## Session Description [[Groothog|Grudd Haug]] did not end in triumph. It ended in wreckage. The session opened in the ruined gut of the giant stead, where the party dragged itself back from the brink one body at a time. [[Turok Prideweaver]] approached [[Ray]] with critical information: [[Ray]]'s armor is pride-forged [[Leonin]] craftsmanship, and [[the Regal Eclipse]] -- an assassin faction -- is actively hunting its wearer. [[Turok Prideweaver|Turok]] spoke of [[Aoros]], a hidden [[Leonin]] homeland accessible only during blood moon windows, and warned that a war was building there. He gifted [[Ray]] an Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location and a conch whose roots glow when the blood moon approaches. [[Zyra]] vanished into the dark without ceremony. The party returned to [[Felderwin]] with rescued captives, received a 500 gold reward from [[Starosta Thanor Whisperthin]], and identified their new magical items during a long rest. [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] claimed Darkvision Goggles. [[Khan]] fed powdered gem dust to [[Gaia]], who grew into a more powerful form. [[Khan]] gave [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]] the Amulet of the Devout. After departing with [[Jericho]]'s crew, campfire conversations revealed [[Jericho]]'s tragic backstory as "Two-Tap." The party traveled along the [[Burn Scar Trace]], crossed a river via a fumbling ferry, and began climbing a mountain face toward ruins [[Michael]] identified as the fallen flying city of [[Auldi]]. The session ended mid-combat against zombified hill giants and [[Vorgash|Vorgash the Rot Whisperer]] on the mountain ledges. ## Chapter ### **Scene 1: Triage in the Wreckage** The session opened in the ruined gut of [[Groothog|Grudd Haug]], where smoke crawled through broken beams and the floor above had given way. [[Elaina]], [[Michael]], [[Haskal]], [[Miko Ten|Lines]], and [[Jericho]] were down. There was no celebration. Only triage. [[Turok Prideweaver]], freshly freed and already proving his worth, charged through the debris to distribute potions where they were needed. [[Zyra]], who by every right could have simply vanished, lingered just long enough to cast a spell on the fallen [[Miko Ten|Lines]] with obvious irritation, helping even while looking like she hated every second of it. [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]], [[Khan]], and the others worked through the wreckage one body at a time. [[Khan]], not trusting the wrong vial in the wrong moment, searched [[Michael]]'s bag carefully and chose a known healing potion instead of risking poison. One by one, the party dragged itself back from the brink. [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] went to [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]] and found only stillness. No breath. No miracle waiting to happen on its own. He laid a hand on the dead captain and promised the others that [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]] would not be left here. #### **Party Actions** - [[Turok Prideweaver|Turok]] distributed potions to revive fallen party members. - [[Khan]] carefully identified the correct healing potion from [[Michael]]'s bag and revived him. - [[Zyra]] grudgingly healed [[Miko Ten|Lines]] before departing. - [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] confirmed [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]]'s death and vowed to return his body to [[Felderwin]]. #### **Developments** - Five party members were unconscious at the start of the session -- all were revived. - [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]] was confirmed dead beyond the party's ability to heal on-site. - [[Groothog|Grudd Haug]] collapsed in on itself as [[Khan]] shaped water and earth to contain the fire. ### **Scene 2: Turok Prideweaver's Revelation** As the party extracted from the collapsing [[Groothog|Grudd Haug]], [[Turok Prideweaver]] pulled [[Ray]] aside for a private conversation. He revealed that [[Ray]]'s armor is pride-forged -- crafted by [[Leonin]] artisans -- and marks the wearer as a figure of significance. [[Turok Prideweaver|Turok]] explained he comes from [[Aoros]], a hidden Leonin homeland that can only be reached during brief windows when the sea loosens its grip under a blood moon. He warned that [[the Regal Eclipse]], an assassin faction, actively hunts for the armor and its wearer. They had already taken someone named Chiron. [[Turok Prideweaver|Turok]] gave [[Ray]] an Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location to prevent scrying, and a conch whose roots glow when the blood moon approaches and the coast to [[Aoros]] opens. He then departed to prepare defenses in his homeland. #### **Party Actions** - [[Ray]] listened to [[Turok Prideweaver|Turok]]'s account of [[Aoros]], [[the Regal Eclipse]], and the significance of his armor. - [[Ray]] refused the armor trade but accepted the Amulet and conch. - [[Khan]] returned the eye-shaped amulet to [[Turok Prideweaver|Turok]] from the treasure chest. #### **Developments** - [[Aoros]] revealed as a hidden [[Leonin]] homeland across the sea, accessible only during blood moon windows. - [[The Regal Eclipse]] confirmed as actively hunting [[Ray]] and the pride-forged armor. - [[Turok Prideweaver|Turok]] departed to return to [[Aoros]] and prepare for war. - Chiron was taken by [[the Regal Eclipse]] -- an unresolved thread. ### **Scene 3: Return to Felderwin** [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] rode [[Stampede]] hard back to [[Felderwin]] with [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]]'s body. He found a [[dragonborn]] priest at the town's temple who recognized [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]] immediately. The priest's assessment was grim -- crushed ribs, damage beyond what a small-town temple could manage -- but he was not dismissive. If more help could be called in, if time and prayer could buy even the smallest chance, they would try. The rest of the party returned later, battered enough that even the town's relief could not quite cover the exhaustion. [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]] had already freed [[Rooric]] the carpenter from the spit above the fire and led the halfling families to safety through the watchtower exit. At the inn, rooms were found, wounds were licked, and the long process of sorting loot and consequences began. [[Michael]] offloaded coin into the bag of holding. [[Khan]] handed over powdered gemstone dust to [[Gaia]], and the little earth companion reacted like she had been starving for it -- growing into something sturdier, more substantial, less pebble and more ally. [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] identified the strange goggles as Darkvision Goggles, granting him 60 feet of darkvision. And [[Khan]], in a moment of genuine gratitude, gave the Amulet of the Devout to [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]], acknowledging that her healing and steadiness had saved him more than once. The party visited [[Starosta Thanor Whisperthin]], who gathered together what the town could and handed over 500 gold. Stolen goods -- a rocking horse, a puppet theater, a gem-encrusted harp -- were returned to their rightful owners. #### **Party Actions** - [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] rode [[Stampede]] to [[Felderwin]] and delivered [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]] to the temple. - [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]] freed [[Rooric]] from the spit and led the [[halflings]] to safety. - [[Khan]] fed gem dust to [[Gaia]], triggering her transformation into a more powerful form. - [[Khan]] gave the Amulet of the Devout to [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]]. - [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] identified and claimed the Darkvision Goggles. - [[Michael]] bought raw metal ingots from the blacksmith for future armor improvements. #### **Developments** - [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]]'s fate remained uncertain -- the [[dragonborn]] priest's magic was insufficient but he vowed to try. - [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] now has darkvision via the Darkvision Goggles. - [[Gaia]] evolved into a more powerful elemental form. - [[Felderwin]] rewarded the party with 500 gold. ### **Scene 4: [[The Road]] to the Ashkeeper Peaks** [[Jericho]] and his crew pressed the party onward toward the [[Ashkeeper Peaks]]. A rough ferry crossing on a smaller river turned into a fumbling skill challenge of snapped oars, scraped banks, and banged hull, leaving the whole group wetter, colder, and more annoyed than anyone wanted to admit. Rain gave way to snow. The land narrowed. The mountains ahead stopped looking distant and started looking like walls. Along the road they found a crude sign scratched with a simple warning in Common: turn back. That night around the fire, [[Jericho]] earned his name all over again. He spoke at last about why they called him Two-Tap. Once, he had run a trail job with another crew, and a better man than him had suggested a simple signal system: taps on the harness ring to halt or move. [[Jericho]] had dismissed it. Pride said they did not need it. Then the ambush came. The trail was rigged, the carts trapped, and in the chaos those taps meant nothing because [[Jericho]] had already decided they were unnecessary. His crew died under the collapse. So now he taps. Tap tap. Not because it is clever. Because it means stop, check, do not trust a clear road, and do not let pride outrun caution. [[Miko Ten|Lines]] shared a quiet stretch with [[Michael]], asking about where he came from and getting only part of the truth in return. [[Michael]] heard, or thought he heard, a familiar voice in the wind calling his name, but when he turned there was no one there. [[Khan]] rose in the middle of the night to sit with [[Haskal]], who was drunk enough to tell old stories and sad enough to remember every one of them clearly. #### **Party Actions** - [[Jericho]] revealed the origin of his "Two-Tap" nickname around the campfire. - [[Miko Ten|Lines]] and [[Michael]] shared a quiet watch conversation. - [[Khan]] sat with [[Haskal]] during a late-night watch. - [[Ray]] practiced his intimidating stare on a tree until [[Elaina]] teased him for it. #### **Developments** - [[Jericho]]'s backstory revealed: his crew was killed in a trail ambush because he dismissed a signal system. "Two-Tap" is his memorial. - [[Michael]] heard a familiar voice calling his name in the wind -- possibly connected to his past. - The [[Burn Scar Trace]] is named for old charcoal pits and controlled burns in the area. ### **Scene 5: The Mountain and the Ambush** By late morning the party reached the face of the [[Ashkeeper Peaks]], where [[Haskal]] began driving pitons into stone and the crew made ready to climb. [[Michael]], always the quickest to think vertically, used a scroll to cast Fly and rose to scout ahead. That is when he saw them. Not guards. Not shepherds. Not worried hermits. Undead giants. [[Ogre]] corpses. Cyclopean dead things. And above them, watching the approach from higher ledges: [[Vorgash|Vorgash the Rot Whisperer]], waiting with his dead and his cronies as if he had known exactly where the party would come out. [[Michael]] identified the ruins above as [[Auldi]] -- a fallen flying city from before [[the Calamity]]. [[Michael]] dropped back with the warning, but by then there was no clean retreat. [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]] used her steed to reach a hanging rope fixed to a broken fence and dropped a line for the others. [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]], [[Khan]], [[Ray]], and the rest scrambled up after her. The moment they topped the ledge, the dead noticed them. The ambush hit hard and high. [[Khan]] charged the first stair and blasted one of the undead off the mountain with fire. [[Michael]] went airborne again, only to take a brutal hit from a giant's club that nearly batted him out of the sky. [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]] reached the ledge, called on Sacred Weapon, and answered the dead with radiant steel. [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] closed with one of the undead brutes and hit hard enough to drop it -- only to watch it lurch back up, clinging to whatever foul imitation of life [[Vorgash|Vorgash]] had stuffed into it. [[Ray]] came up behind them, killing one with a Firebolt and then pressing forward. The session ended with the party staring up at yet another impossible climb that now had teeth. #### **Party Actions** - [[Michael]] used a Fly scroll to scout and identified the ruins as [[Auldi]], a fallen flying city. - [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]] reached a hanging rope and extended it for the party to climb. - [[Khan]] blasted an undead off the mountain with Firebolt. - [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] engaged undead brutes that refused to stay dead. - [[Ray]] killed an undead with Firebolt after climbing the rope. #### **Developments** - [[Vorgash|Vorgash the Rot Whisperer]] returned with an army of undead giants, [[ogres]], and cyclops. - The ruins above are identified as [[Auldi]] -- a lesser-known fallen flying city from before [[the Calamity]]. - The undead exhibit relentless endurance, rising after being struck down. - The session ended mid-combat on the mountain ledges. ## **Notable Events** - Five party members were unconscious at the session's start -- all were revived through potions and teamwork. - [[Turok Prideweaver]] revealed [[Aoros]], [[the Regal Eclipse]], and the significance of [[Ray]]'s pride-forged armor. - [[Zyra]] departed the party without ceremony after the battle. - [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]] was taken to [[Felderwin]]'s temple -- his fate uncertain but not hopeless. - [[Khan]] gave the Amulet of the Devout to [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]] in a moment of genuine gratitude. - [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] acquired Darkvision Goggles, gaining 60 feet of darkvision. - [[Gaia]] evolved after consuming powdered gem dust, growing into a more powerful elemental form. - [[Jericho]] revealed his tragic backstory: "Two-Tap" is his memorial to the crew he lost through pride. - [[Michael]] identified the mountain ruins as [[Auldi]], a fallen flying city. - [[Vorgash|Vorgash the Rot Whisperer]] ambushed the party with undead on the mountain ledges. ## **Next Steps** - Survive the mountain ambush against [[Vorgash|Vorgash the Rot Whisperer]]'s undead forces. - Reach the ruins of [[Auldi]] and find what [[Martellus Meridius]] sent [[Jericho]] to retrieve. - Investigate the connection between [[Vorgash|Vorgash]] and the raven skull symbol. - Determine why [[Michael]] heard a familiar voice calling his name in the wind. ## **Clues & Lore Revealed** - [[Aoros]] is a hidden [[Leonin]] homeland across the sea, accessible only during blood moon windows when the sea loosens its grip. - [[The Regal Eclipse]] is an assassin faction actively hunting [[Ray]] and the pride-forged armor. They have taken someone named Chiron. - [[Ray]]'s armor is pride-forged [[Leonin]] craftsmanship, marking its wearer as a figure of significance to [[Leonin]] culture and prophecy. - [[Turok Prideweaver|Turok]]'s conch glows when the blood moon approaches, signaling the coast to [[Aoros]] is open. - [[Auldi]] is a fallen flying city from before [[the Calamity]], located in the [[Ashkeeper Peaks]] -- lesser known than the great city of Aeor. - [[Vorgash|Vorgash the Rot Whisperer]] survived [[Groothog|Grudd Haug]] and has raised an army of undead giants and [[ogres]] to ambush the party. - [[Jericho]]'s crew was killed in a trail ambush because he dismissed a signal system out of pride -- "Two-Tap" is his permanent reminder. - [[Michael]] heard a familiar voice calling his name in the mountain wind -- origin unknown. ## **Character & Roleplay Highlights** [[Thorag Stonefist|Thorag]] rode [[Stampede]] hard back to [[Felderwin]] with [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]]'s body, refusing to leave the fallen captain behind. At the temple, he laid a hand on [[Craigen Cornbottom|Craigen]] and promised the others that the halfling would not be abandoned -- a vow that carried the weight of genuine grief. Later, when he identified the Darkvision Goggles and finally gained the ability to see in the dark after forty sessions of stumbling blind, it was a quietly triumphant moment for a character who has always compensated for his limitations with sheer stubbornness. [[Khan]] showed two sides of himself in quick succession. He carefully searched [[Michael]]'s bag for the correct healing potion rather than risk grabbing poison -- a small, thoughtful act in the middle of triage that revealed how deeply he pays attention to his companions. Then, in one of the session's most genuine moments, he approached [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]] before bed and gave her the Amulet of the Devout, his voice going noticeably high-pitched as he told her: "You have saved me a couple of times with your healing capabilities and I think it's really useful. So I wanted to give you a token of appreciation." The monk who pocketed two amulets for himself last session chose to give one away out of real gratitude. [[Khan]] also had a beautiful scene with [[Gaia]], ripping open the bag of powdered gem dust and watching his little earth companion devour it like a cat seeing catnip, growing from a pebble into something sturdier. His quiet nighttime vigil with [[Haskal]] -- beckoning water into a cup to pretend-drink alongside the drunk dwarf, just to give him someone to talk to -- showed Khan's understated kindness at its best. [[Ray]] accepted [[Turok Prideweaver|Turok]]'s revelations about his armor and [[the Regal Eclipse]] with characteristic stubbornness, flatly refusing the armor trade: "No can do, okay? Because this is gonna help me find my parents." He awkwardly patted [[Turok Prideweaver|Turok]] on the shoulder and admitted, "I'm not really good at the hero part, I'm usually the running away part." Later, he was caught by [[Elaina]] practicing his intimidating stare on a tree -- dead serious, tucking his chin, eyes forward, refusing to blink -- a small, endearing detail that captured Ray's ongoing effort to become someone braver than he believes himself to be. [[Maizie Waterford|Maizie]] freed [[Rooric]] from the spit, led the halfling families to safety through the watchtower exit, and kept herself between the civilians and danger the entire time. When [[Khan]] gave her the Amulet of the Devout, her response was warm but practical -- she immediately gave up her Cloak of Elvenkind to make room for the attunement, accepting the trade-off with the quiet confidence of someone who knows where her priorities lie. [[Michael]] spent hours after the battle with a faint purplish hue glowing over his wounds, slowly mending in a way that no one else in the party could quite explain. He bought raw metal ingots from the blacksmith and ate a fried honeycomb from a late-night street vendor with the delight of someone who nearly died that morning. His quiet conversation with [[Miko Ten|Lines]] during the watch -- deflecting questions about his past, revealing only that he was from "near Uthodurn" -- hinted at depths he is not yet ready to share. When he heard a familiar voice calling his name in the mountain wind, he turned, found nothing, and shrugged it off -- but the moment lingered. [[Jericho]] delivered the session's most powerful monologue when he revealed the origin of "Two-Tap" around the campfire. His voice flattened as he described the ambush that killed his crew -- the signal system he dismissed out of pride, the taps that meant nothing in the roar of stone and screaming horses. "Tap tap means stop. It means check. It means you don't trust a clear road. And it means I don't get to forget them." The fire popped and he flinched at it like it was a memory. It was the kind of moment that transforms a hired sword into a person. [[Haskal]] fought through the filth of [[Groothog|Grudd Haug]] covered in pig slop, firing his crossbow with grim determination, and later sat by the campfire drunk enough to tell old stories -- naming old comrades, reliving wild excursions, just needing someone to listen. His special hot meal for the crew the next morning was a rare act of communal warmth before the road narrowed again.