Final Chapter (10-18-2014)

    After the party delivered Brennil safely to Equilor, their ship was refitted and turned back on it’s way, for they’d been banned from setting foot upon elven lands as result of Xia’s departure mid-voyage. She, along with Geralt, had decided to leave.  Afterwards, the group spent months traversing Endore, combating Atreides’ minions where they found them.  At some point, they met Freya, a human woman raised in the Wilds who possessed the unusual power to assume the shape of a powerful tiger. Sadly, in the end, this wasn’t enough, and when they finally reached Atreides, they watched in horror as she finished her arcane ritual, breaching the veil and bringing her fiendish minions across the planes.
    Even from this, the party escaped, and they became leaders of what few resistance remained. They grew stronger in time, fighting Atreides’ army where ever they could. Meulin had met back up with the group, bringing her companions, Nepeta and an awakened, intelligent polar bear. Airy had left them long ago, but at some point returned to reveal herself as fey goddess to Baltazar, whom she still held feelings for. Baltazar, having undergone the vile transformation into a lich, made a deal with Airy that should she secure his phylactery in her world, he would stay with her when he would eventually “die”.
    Eventually, the party was approached by Smudge, who had again appeared from nowhere, and told our heroes that he had a way to deal with Atreides. He could send their minds back in time to before Atreides breached the veil, where they would rescue Liviana, who’d freed herself from Atreides’ domination. Liviana would have way to banish Atreides, thus preventing her from ever accomplishing her goal of breaching the veil, but she would be required to be rendered unconscious for that. The party agreed to this plan, for they were running out of time before their resistance would be crushed. So, Smudge cast his ritualistic spell, and after the searing pain, party found themselves shipwrecked on a small island between the main continent and the elven lands. Soon after, Smudge came in with a small row boat, informing party that he’d located Atreides’s hideout, and they found out that they only had 4 days before Liviana would be executed.
    The party, as is usual for unorganized adventurers with nothing that would even remotely resemble leadership, developed into arguing about how to proceed. They could rush in there and launch full assault on the keep by themselves, or seek aid of Tir-Gollor for the attack. Arguing went on for a while, with the party splitting two ways, before eventually everyone agreed to at least seek the aid of Tir-Gollor, confident that they would not be a threat should the mage hunters decide to turn upon them. After the decision was reached, Baltazar took them to Windriddle Palace through pathways of the shadow plane, reaching the palace within mere hours. There, they were met with elderly receptionist, who queried their business, and after quick conversation it was revealed that the Tir-Gollor saw Atreides’ cult as merely a band of thugs. A little bit of conversation, mostly handled by Baltazar and supported by Freya, along with hearty dose of intimidation, receptionist was convinced to fetch his knight-commander. Commander soon arrived to inquire party’s purpose, and they explained all they knew of Atreides and her cult, backed by allowing commander to read Baltazar’s mind. This was enough to convince the commander to gather his force of his elite, and launch an assault upon Atreides' castle, while the party would soon follow after.
    Half an hour later, as party was teleported in by Smudge, they came across Tir-Gollor fighting their way through castle docks, against a dragon priestess and a horde of undead, along with a Nightmare. These forces were quickly dispatched by party, after which they pushed inside while mage hunters set up a perimeter to keep off any reinforcements. Resistance inside the keep itself was light at first, only beset on by pair of lizardmen and a couple cultists, though they eventually came across a barbarian woman, who seemed to hold some power and status within the cult. Her threat was quickly ended however, as Baltazar used his arts to take over her mind, using her as his minion to deal with any additional forces. Meanwhile, Dovan, who had been serving as the vanguard, setting off one glyph of warding already, while blasting through sets of doors after another, ran into a balor, who was guarding the entrance to dungeons. Battle soon raged inside the castle, as everyone rushed to assault the balor. Dominated barbarian managed to set off another trap on the floor, nearly incinerating half the party and multiple cultists. Freya was badly cut as she rushed to assault Aeterna, who entered the hall from behind, while Dovan, Meulin and Bhelan focused their might on the demonic balor. Spells flew back and forth, fire filled the hallways and blade clashed against blade, but eventually balor did fall. It’s death however, caused another massive explosion of fire, searing party even further.
    While Elli did all she could to fix up the party, Baltazar went on ahead to find Liviana, setting off necromantic trap after another. Liviana herself, was surprised they were there to rescue her, though seemed to realize what was going on as Smudge was mentioned. After being freed, she went to explain that she indeed knew way to banish Atreides, but such action would require her life, a sacrifice she was willing to make. She also knew Atreides was below in her temple, so this is where party hurried next. Few cultists below were quickly dispatched, and party moved on Atreides, who immediately began casting a spell to summon an elemental monolith. This attempt was thwarted by Dovan, who rushed in and smashed his hammer at her face, interrupting her concentration. Then rest of the party moved in, and their final struggle with Atreides began.
    The battle itself seemed to go back and forth, as party tried to swarm Atreides, mauling her with axe, hammer, sword, claw and arrow. She in turn, would attempt to cast a spell, often counter spelled by Baltazar, and afterwards teleport to other end of the room, with party rushing over to her again. Spells seemed to have little effect, Baltazar for one could never even breach her defenses, leaving most of the fighting to his companions. Somewhere among the desperate battle that often seemed like strange version of tag, Yokeron’s head was cut off by Atreides’ scythe, but otherwise no casualties were incurred. Eventually, after hours of fighting, Atreides finally fell to the floor, unconscious. This was time Liviana had been waiting for, as she stepped, giving her life to fuel an ancient, divine ritual that sent Atreides' spirit into the Far Planes, hopefully to never return.
    The party succeeded in their mission, the war, as they knew it, would never come to pass.
    Endore was safe from the threat posed by the entity known as Sophronia Atreides.  The world at large would never know the sacrifice that was paid that day, nor would they even know that they were in danger.  Thus is the life of a hero.  The Tir-Gollor did not let the party forget what they had done; they gave them riches and rewards, and put them under their protection, even as the party went their separate ways.
    The Six strengthened their holds on the Seals of the Veil, preventing any more from slipping through.
    The Tir-Gollor cleaned up, reorganizing themselves from the Mage-Watchers, to the Guardians of Endore, going so far as to consume or eliminate their splinter groups.  They cleaned up the remainder of the cult and any denizens of the Abyss that remained.
    Liviana Kennet, who sacrificed herself to save the land, was given saint-hood, and eventually, a small group treated her as a deity.
    Smudge, his work done, decided Endore didn’t need him anymore.  He offered Elli the chance to join him in his travels and see new worlds, and then, went into a strange blue box and disappeared from this world.
    Elli took Smudge up on his offer, and spent her years traveling the planes... seeing new worlds, new creatures... things that she only dreamt of.  Every so often, Smudge would bring her home to visit her friends, only to be whisked away once again.  It is unknown whether she is still traveling or has since passed.
    Airy, bored out of her mind in fairy world, watching from one of her portals the endeavors of the party who beyond her expectations stayed the path. She continued to await the arrival of her beloved "Batty" to keep his promise upon his initial destruction in the realm of Endore. Her daughters, Freya and Sylvia, move onwards and rekindle what was left of their childhood home. All traces of the bandits were eviscerated and Sylvia was cured of her madness, though still had a fondness for blood pudding on holidays. Freya became Princess of the Wilds and made an unlikely alliance with the orcs.
    After everything was over, Meulin actually thanked everyone in the party for allowing her to help them as she finally saw them as her friends. She gave everyone of them a marked map so they could visit her village if they wanted to and offered Bhelan the oppurtunity to come with her. She then rode off to a unknown place, being the place where she got information of the traitors to actually live in. After facing them and telling them who she actually was, they tried to put up a fight, but was easily outmatched by Muelin and her companions, but instead of killing them for vengeance, she captured them and went back to her village. She hesitated at first, as her family was still seen as traitors of this place due to the incident in the past and it would also be the first time in years that she had returned to her old home. She brought the still tied and chained up captives, and explained to the elder that the sins of the Mavros family were finally cleansed. Meulin began to cry as the village was once more what it used to be, the home of her family. Muelin was offered the role of village chief later on, but she declined the offer, saying that someone else is more fit for the position.  The elder kept insisting, and Muelin finally relented.  One week before the ceremony, Muelin's older brother returned, bringing their lost sister with him, having found her in the Wilds.  The family reunited.  Muelin told the elder that her older brother, Karkat, would make a far better chief than she, the elder gave in, knowing there was no convincing her otherwise. Muelin eventually left the village, striking out with Bhelan to explore the world and have adventures as well as visiting Dovan every now and then.
    Meulin died of old age, buried next to her parents, her brother and her sister and the once shunned grave of traitors, and a monument to the village's heroine was built in her honor.
    After everything was said and done, with Meulin offering Bhelan a chance to go with her, he stated that he still had one more thing to take care of and would catch up with her later. Bhelan returned to his hometown and visited the grave of Sergeant Falwick. He said only two words, "It's done.", left the coat Falwick had given him as a graduation present on the grave stone and then left to join Meulin. For the next few years he continued adventuring with Meulin and making the occasional trip to visit Dovan, until he eventually decided to settle down and start a family. He returned to his hometown and married at the age of 27, decided that the best thing for him to do was to join the local guard and proceeded to move on with his life. He and his wife had 2 boys, only one of which showed any signs of possessing any arcane ability. Both of them followed in their father's footsteps and joined the military where they both graduated at the top of their class and led promising military careers. Bhelan continued his life enjoying all the normal things one would expect, he watched as his children started their lives eventually leading to marriage and grandchildren. Bhelan grew old and eventually died peacefully in his sleep, he was 86. He is currently buried next to his wife and Sergeant Falwick.
    After Atreides’ defeat, Baltazar returned to his old life and old companions before he’d been captured, which had eventually led him to this situation. He continued his task of researching the Veil, using the lifespan gained from undeath to his advantage, though for first few decades, he occasionally visited his former companions, and eventually was present at each of their funerals, if for nothing else, for respect for those who stood with him against Atreides.
    Knowing his bargain with Airy, Baltazar did his best to maintain his current body as long as possible, for there was much for him to learn of the world still, though he often visited Airy in her her realm, staying for what ranged from months to decades at a time with his “beloved”, as he came to call Airy, whether out of genuine affection or to stay on her favor was never certain. He caused widespread panic the first time his spells tore opening to pathways of shadow plane and demonic elven lich marched into feylands for first time. Eventually fey came to accept visits of the polite undead lover of their queen and goddess though.
    As of what goes for him now, none knows. Perhaps he finally succumbed to hunt of more zealous mortals, and now resides with his beloved Airy in her realm, or perhaps he still wanders the world in different guise, and perhaps he shall continue to wander for another millennia.
    After they defeated Atreides and got rewarded, Dovan returned finally home to his wife and kid.
    The Tir-Golor sent a messenger with him to explain to the Dwarven Leaders what happened, Dovan, being a hero, was cast as a Paragon of his people.
    But despite this accomplishment, Dovan stayed the same dwarf as ever. Sure, he got a little bit richer and famous, but everything he wanted was to be together with his family. He opened up a smithy, happily crafting weapon and armor for everybody who needed or wanted.
    Most of the money was actually donated to the kingdom itself, making sure that trade routes to other kingdoms were established.
    In the end, he died of old age. Peacefully, he was given to the stone from which all dwarves come from.

Chapter 6 (10-04-2014)

    The first few days of their voyage had gone uneventfully… mostly. Three days since they’d left that nameless port city,  the only major event aboard the ship had been Dovan’s continuing sea sickness, and resulting, a neverending string of complaints and curses that followed. A small, dubious act happened as well, for when Baltazar split off wealth he’d acquired by selling off their loot he’d been carrying, Geralt, who had previously been loudest about acquiring as much wealth from it as possible, threw his share overboard into the sea. This was followed by quick attempt from Yokeron to catch it, almost ending in him going overboard as well, with no results in reclaiming the abandoned gold. Other than that, only distractions had been pair of young, beautiful women among the passengers. Lilliana, who seemed to take immediate liking to Airy (who was still angry, and had permanently relocated herself to Yokeron, from her usual place on Baltazar’s shoulder) and Angelique, a human woman who spent most of her time flirting with the majority of the party. The only ones spared from her attempts were Yokeron, Airy and Baltazar, who’d spent large amounts of time talking with Brennil, much to the dismay of Xianaya.
    The first actual surprise came some time later, as a full moon settled over the night sea.  Some had gone to their cabins for rest and others were spending time on deck, when blood-chilling howling was heard. Of the party, Baltazar was first, and eventually only one, to go investigate this sound coming from Bhelan’s cabin, and using magic to see, was able to get out of the way just as a lycanthropic Bhelan burst through his door and into the hallway. The bite he’d taken so long ago at the werewolf camp had apparently infected him, and now our heroes were in same boat with a bloodthirsty, mindless monster. Bhelan chased Baltazar to the main deck, where Dovan, Yokeron(who’d been sleeping in crow’s nest with airy), Airy, Lilliana and Baltazar engaged Bhelan in an attempt to bring him down, but to not kill their companion. Xianaya stayed in the cabin she shared with her mother to protect her, while Geralt, apparently brought deaf by wind, never even noticed the fight happening a mere 10 feet from him
    After a brief clash, which included acid arrows, dark energies, sonic lances, bonefiddle sawing at Bhelan’s skeleton and an old fashioned dwarven beat down and aid from captain of the ship, who surprisingly turned out to be a weretiger, the werewolf was finally rendered unconscious, turning back to his human form. While Dovan was busy tying him to the mast for security, Lilliana took immediate interest, regarding “Oh my, such a handsome man inside such a vicious beast”.  After the situation was cleared, Baltazar went inside to check on Brennil and Xianaya, while the rest stayed there to ponder on Bhelan. Our heroes were not granted pause however, as Angelique was seen, a strangely focused expression on her face, standing at bow of the ship. Just mere moments after, the ship itself was rocked to the side heavily, as a pair of dragon turtles attacked it from both sides, crashing through the hull and causing the ship to take in water. Most of the party were tossed around the deck on this assault, not being prepared for a sudden crash. Soon after, while everyone was picking themselves up, and Bhelan teleported out of his bindings to dress and get his gear from cabin, one of turtles breathed a cloud of steaming hot mist over ship, quickly knocking both Xianaya and Yokeron unconscious, badly scalded, while Lilliana was outright killed by this lethal blast. While Geralt, Baltazar and Dovan, who’d been left mostly unscathed by the blast, were picking themselves up and engaging the turtles, Airy rushed to distract Angelique and Bhelan was busy retrieving his gear. Surprisingly, as Airy got closer, Angelique merely turned to look at her, asking with hint of magic on her voice for Airy to take care of the others on the deck, which resulted in Airy rushing about to heal as many of wounded as she could. The Captain soon leapt into the ocean to battle one of turtles, while Geralt was busy filling air over water with another of his stinking clouds, and Yokeron used his spells to blast both turtles and Angelique, who by then, frustrated of Airy’s approach, corrected that she’d wished fairy would kill them, not heal them. Soon after, as Dovan charged the woman, she dropped her disguise, revealing herself to be a gorgeous, yet vile, succubus.
    During this exchange, the turtle the captain had attacked had dragged him below the surface, so Geralt resorted to teleporting the captain back aboard the ship. Due to mere confidence, or mind numbing rage, the captain proceeded to leap down into the water immediately afterwards, to attack the turtle again. Baltazar, not willing to lose the only person who would likely know how to sail their ship, leaped overboard after the captain, disappearing below waves. At the same time, Brennil had exited her cabin, and polymorphed the other dragon turtle into a simple, small turtle, immediately ending the threat from its side quickly. As water around other turtle turned red from blood, and neither captain nor Baltazar were seen, the rest of the group focused their attention to the succubus. Her response, as Dovan was the only one bearing down upon her, was to suggest that he’d jump overboard for a swim, aided by her magic. Dovan, compelled by her magical beauty, dropped his shield and axe, and dove overboard with just enough time for Xianaya to grant him ability to breathe water. As their combined assault started to wear the succubus down, she took flight, flying over to back of the ship, apparently preparing to escape, when she used her seductive magic once again. This time, on Brennil, for the request that she’d make sure the party wouldn’t get off the ship. Mere moments later, succubus-Angelique was hurled down into waves by gust of wind summoned by Xianaya, mere moments before Brennil captured everyone aboard into a powerful forcecage. Luckily, the turtle that both Baltazar and captain had assaulted (by now, Geralt’s water elemental had returned with captain’s severed arm) heard the splash, and thought Angelique tastier snack than Baltazar, who still hadn’t surfaced. Turtle swam straight for the succubus, swallowing her whole. And as her seductive magic disappeared, Brennil dismissed her forcecage even as Bhelan brought Dovan up from waves and Baltazar materialized from night’s shadows on deck.
    With the immediate danger now gone, it became obvious to everyone that the ship was in a bad way. Half sunk, most of the crew gone, and seemingly no hope left. Not wanting to waste time salvaging what could be recovered later, Geralt offered to teleport the group away to safety. Xianaya and Baltazar, however, felt they could save the ship, and were urging the increasingly impatient Geralt not to rush things. As the ship continued to sink, Baltazar pulled out an old, familiar book, and quickly scrawled something within. Shortly thereafter, the boat was returned to how it was before the attack, unscathed, and ready to sail. This was quickly identified as a wish, and a heated argument broke out between Xianaya and Baltazar. Each stood their ground, Xianaya claiming the book and its power would only bring harm to the group, and Baltazar claiming he understood the risk and could shoulder the burden. In the end, Baltazar relented to Xianaya’s urgings to get rid of the book, handing it to Brennil, who cast it into the ocean. Geralt, never one to miss a beat, sent a wave of fire elementals to ensure the book’s destruction.
    With the drama settled, Xianaya used her druidic power to reincarnate Captain Hobbes, now a half orc devoid of his strength as a weretiger, and the ship’s quartermaster, who remained a human. An attempt was made to reincarnate the fallen bard, Lilliana, whose soul refused, wishing to keep her form as it was, even if it meant the risk of never coming back. With the ship returned to some level of normalcy, it was able to continue its voyage to Equilor, of the Elven Empire.

Chapter 5 (09-27-2014)

    As Baltazar dragged Xianaya away from the now darkened hallway to take cover from more incoming arrows, he requested Airy return fire. Airy, though still bitter over the fact that she’d triggered the poisonous trap on the door at Baltazar’s insistence, agreed and hurled a ball of fire from her wand through the darkness. A faint explosion followed, along with the sound of crackling flames, and trio burst through door into room where Xianaya’s mother, Seal Protector Brennil Harmerilin was kept. She was quite amused by the sudden intrusion of an unknown elf half-carrying her daughter, and quickly inquired if this was her new son-in-law. A short, if not amusing, exchange followed, where Baltazar assured that he’d hardly known Xia long enough for such, much to the annoyance of Airy, who had moved to sitting on Geralt’s shoulder as he broke in the room from the other side. Soon after, they turned their attentions to reclaiming both Brennil and Xia’s equipment from nearby storage, which was accomplished with party’s usual flair: a celestial monkey beating the door down with scythe, followed by series of explosions and lightning bolts.
    Meanwhile on the first floor, Dovan was starting a process of dealing with a trap his dwarven belly had led him into. As both Aeterna and Liviana focused their assault on Dovan, despite Aeterna still down on the ground from hit she’d taken from Yoyo’s spell, Dovan replied with manner usual for his style. By smashing the dining room doors closed, bludgeoning Aeterna’s head with the door in process, and settled to hold them closed until aid could arrive. At the same time, a pair of ogre magi burst out of a nearby room, preparing to advance on Yokeron, along with Meulin and Bhelan, who’d by now descended back to first floor. A rattle of metal could be heard from direction of dining hall, as the doors Dovan was holding burst open, sending dwarf tumbling away into nearby furniture. Furious of this treatment, Dovan grabbed a nearby metallic chair, and launched it at Aeterna with all his fury, shouting out “And you stay in there!” as it sailed through air, hitting her squarely in chest and knocking her back inside once more.
    As the battle was starting to escalate below, and explosions shuddered the mansion, along with roars of fire spreading upstairs, our brave heroes were contacted by way of telepathy from lady Sophronia Atreides, demanding the party’s surrender and relinquishmen of Brennil, or Elli, who had stayed outside, would "have her pretty half-blood head, separated from her pretty half-blood body". This developed into a series of disagreements within the party, as some favored taking this chance to get out as soon as possible, while others argued they could not abandon Elli to die in their place. In the end, Brennil decided to give herself in, heading downstairs. Baltazar returned to the roof, in order to keep an eye on situation and make a break for it if nothing else was possible. Downstairs, the party argued for a moment about having a plan of action, until Meulin managed to convince ogre magi to give them a moment of privacy to decide what to do. The party returned upstairs with Brennil and Smudge the kobold, spending a while arguing about different plans. Eventually Geralt, apparently tired of group’s unwillingness to escape, informed that he would take his leave, and still carrying his phantom steed on his back, climbed out of the window and rode off into the storm, leaving the rest of them inside, with Atreides hurrying them along.
    After a few more spiritless suggestions, they managed to form a plan. Baltazar would use his magic to disguise himself as a cultist, and guide Brennil to Atreides. Once there, he would grab both Brennil and Elli, teleporting them both away as Smudge handled teleporting the rest of the group. As they marched out of front gates, there was slight mix up on the plan however, as they saw Geralt standing in front of Atreides, slapped in anti-magic shackles and Elli released to rest of them by huge monstrosity that had been holding her. As Elli and Nepeta made their way back to party, Baltazar, in his guise of dwarven cultist, herded Brennil towards Atreides… and shackled Geralt. Atreides, apparently certain of her victory, let them approach unchallenged. This proved to be a mistake, as once Brennil and Baltazar reached Geralt, Baltazar grabbed both of them, and used his magic to transport both away from cultist hands. At same time, Smudge activated whatever plan he had, teleporting party away as the cultist archers opened fire, hitting both Smudge and Meulin.
    In a sudden flash, our heroes found themselves standing on an open plain, with no knowledge of where they were, but as far as they knew, they were safe. Except that they soon noticed themselves missing Meulin and her pet, who had been shot off from the ring of people during teleportation. After a short study of their maps, with Bhelan pointing out that they were near the northern coast of the Eloren Wilds, while Airy broke Geralt out of his shackles. They decided to head towards the shore, and after consulting a map, decided that the closest place where they could possibly find a settlement would be near an inlet in the east. After walking for over day, they did indeed come upon small port-city. The party proceeded to seek out the harbormaster, inquiring about ships sailing to continent of the Elven Empire. After hearing about a ship heading to city of Equilor in three days, they split up to handle whatever business everyone had, acquiring new gear, replacing lost or broken gear, and so forth.  Smudge soon disappeared into the wonders of city, while Geralt spent most of the three days debating about how much more efficient it would be to hire their own, personal merchant who could buy their assorted loot, rather than sell it all off now. Dovan, in turn, made friends with local dwarven blacksmith, aqcuiring the use of his forge for a few days, and Yokeron ended up working at a local alchemist for payment to acquire a magical haversack, though he ended up making a partial mess of his orders. Xianaya, in turn, spent part of her time arguing with her mother about certain subjects, before using her days on whatever private business she had. As others, Baltazar spent his time on private business, but neither he nor Brennil were seen much during final day before departure, though they showed up at the ship with everyone else, as agreed.
    Eventually, everyone agreed on heading to the Elven continent as they escorted Brennil there, and so party set sail off to the home of the Elven Empire.

Chapter 4 (09-20-2014)

    After their encounter with Xianaya, the party quickly made decisions, and decided to continue riding towards Atreides’ manor. For the next two days, all they did was rush forward as fast as possible, hoping to reach the manor long before the lady’s meeting with the werewolves in five days, in hopes that she would not be there during their rescue attempt. A day before they reached their destination, a heavy storm set in, and, as a result, they arrived at the manor’s outskirts at nightfall, covered by clouds of heavy rain and thunder.
    Once they’d reached their destination, it was time for planning. With Geralt summoning another rope trick for cover from rain and sight, the party started to plan their assault. Quickly noting their lack of knowledge of the place, Xia, not having been in the best condition to memorize her surroundings, and Airy kept from flying by poor weather, Meulin volunteered for scouting, as everyone else was “too scared”.  After Meulin had gone, with Geralt following in case she needed quick exit, Baltazar took off on his own as well, leaving his usual companion, Airy, who so far had been almost permanently fixed on his shoulder, with the group, worrying she might be blown off by the rain. During this scouting, the Halfling Yokeron, who’d appeared and disappeared just as quickly at the werewolf camp, somehow appeared to party’s hiding place, complaining about how they’d left him while he went to pick berries. Airy, having taken quite a liking to him, used entirety of scouting trip to happily sit on Yokeron’s shoulder, munch on a strawberry, and talk his ear off.
    Eventually, both Meulin and Baltazar made it back, and reported what they’d discovered. In manor’s walled garden: there was a blue dragon asleep, front entrance was guarded by pair of large, metallic, spiked golems and at least fifteen sentient beings were inside the manor itself. The party discussed for a while on possible approaches, with both Dovan and Bhelan being vocal supporters that the two of them would launch frontal attack against the golems, while rest would sneak in from the back. This was, as usual, dismissed as sheer stupidity and suicide by Geralt, who eventually, apparently growing tired of talking, declared that he’d cause the distraction and rode off before anyone could say a word. Thus, the rest of them were forced to act to be in position when Geralt’s distraction came. Everyone moved up to the garden wall, except Elli, who stayed behind to watch their horses. Meulin scaled the wall with rope for the rest of the party, while Baltazar levitated to the manor’s rooftop with Airy. As the rest of them clambered over a roughly 20ft tall wall, Dovan, who still wore his full plate and heavy shield, woke the dragon while climbing. As dragon set to examine the source of this new noise, everyone froze on their tracks, except Yokeron, who proceeded to hurl an orb of pure force straight through the dragon’s eye. At the same moment, Geralt’s distraction, a blue bison, came barreling along the main road, crashing head first into the large double doors at the front of the manor.
    The dragon, half blinded and infuriated by this disruption of it’s sleep, let loose a bolt of lightning at Dovan, who easily dove out the way, with a few burn marks and his beard standing straight in all directions. Meanwhile, Xianaya had clambered to the roof herself, and while Baltazar rushed to the other end of the building, looking for a window to get inside, she called on the elemental powers of the thunderstorm that had been raging over them for almost two days, sending searing bolts of lightning to smash on the pair of guardian golems, who have, by now, torn the blue bison apart. The golems, simple minded constructs, turned to the next threat they could detect: A lone elven woman standing on top of the roof, guiding a continuous barrage of lightning bolts down on them, and started to climb manor’s wooden walls. Back in garden, the rest of the group, including Geralt, who had dismounted, and was carrying his spectral steed on his back while clambering up the rope, rushed to the back door, when the dragon swiftly swooped down and plucked Bhelan off the ground, carrying him into the clouds. Yokeron, as before, responded to the dragon’s actions by firing another force ball, this time blinding the dragon completely, and causing it to lose its grip on Bhelan, sending him plummeting to the ground.
    As both Bhelan and the dragon rushed to meet the ground, the dragon landing with earth shattering crash outside garden walls and Bhelan, acting swiftly to cast a spell, flew safely to the ground. Dovan was hurrying to manor’s back door, and in usual dwarven fashion, did not stop at the door, barreling straight through it, carrying most of the door and part of its hinges with him inside. Back on the roof, Xia kept pummeling golems with lightning, while Baltazar and Airy broke in through side window, blasting down both a dwarven cultist and ogre mage guarding a heavy metal door. A pair of cultists came hurrying behind corner of a hall to see what was happening, but were forced to retreat as entire hall burst in dark flames below their feet, one of them falling to Airy’s precise arrow. Soon after, Xia followed them inside, as one of the golems, while badly damaged, had made its way to the roof. As others explored lower level, Airy, at Baltazar’s insistence, used her wand to unlock the heavy door the pair of now dead cultists had been guarding. As a result, a cloud of yellowish green mist flowed out of the lock, catching both Xia and Airy within its poisonous cloud, who both quickly retreated.
    Back on the first floor, Bhelan and Meulin split off from Geralt, Dovan and Yokeron to search second floor, while Dovan barreled forward, guided by his unerring dwarven stomach, through a kitchen and straight to the main dining hall. Inside however, instead of a feast, he came across pair of old friends to our heroes. Aeterna, a tiefling warlock they had slain while invading cult’s base, and Liviana. Aeterna was quick to engage the dwarf in combat, but was unable to pierce the dwarf’s armor, while he, in turn, sunk his axe twice into the charging tiefling woman. Then Yokeron once again, following his tried and true approach, fired another orb of force at Aeterna, knocking her down as Liviana moved to attack these intruders.
    While rest of them fought with Liviana and Aeterna on first floor, the golem that had made its way to the roof had followed Xia through the window, leaving a large hole in the wall. While she focused her magic to call upon a powerful breeze to blow the poisonous gas away, Baltazar struck at golem with his black fire, followed by another arc of deadly lightning called by Xia. The golem wobbled for a moment, and fell forward, motionless. As this happened, Meulin and Bhelan burst into the room that Baltazar, Airy and Xia had tried to break in from the other side, discovering both Xia’s mother, who was appalled by the fact that her daughter would lower herself to consorting with savage humans to save her, and more surprisingly to Meulin, their old friend, Smudge, a kobold that Geralt had taken as his slave some weeks prior, and who had apparently had been killed by a troll’s club smashing  his backpack filled with various magical objects and wands, causing a massive explosion that almost killed the party right then and there. Smudge, however, did not seem to have any recollections of these events.
    In the meantime, more cultists were rushing towards Baltazar, Airy and Xianaya, who had been severely wounded by an arrow fired by one of the new cultists. Baltazar proceeded to cover the entire hallway in magical darkness, hoping it and his black fires still raging in the hallway, would keep them from pursuing or firing, and rushed to the metal door they had opened, supporting Xia and Airy riding on his shoulder once more.

TO BE CONTINUED

The Cast of "World of Endore"

Since everyone has been reading this, we really haven't gotten to do a proper introduction to the cast.  So, without further ado: The cast of "World of Endore"



Airy Celeste
    Generally assumed the annoying female fairy of the group, she actually comes up with good ideas on occasion. Often disregarded by the rest of the group, as she was originally thought to be simply Vincent’s hallucination, due to spending most of her time invisible. Generally seen as frivolous, she can be serious, believe it or not.
    She’s gone over some drastic personal changes over last few weeks, after disappearance of Vincent. She’s visible most of the time, and has taken a more active role with the party. For her appearance, she’s sporting a look of subtle redhead with green eyes and matching gossamer wings, along with her armor designed to hold the appearance of vines. The green and red give a stark contrast to her alabaster white skin, showing easily despite her 6 inches of height.
    Wielding her rapier and short bow, Airy’s preferred method of attack is taking precise shots to her opponents’ necks, often felling them with single strike… Even though that is often unnoticed.

Baltazar
    Male sun elf mage who joined the party after their escape from the cult’s dungeons.  He prefers to dress in elegant vestments of black and purple silk, along with his dark red hair and golden skin, and holding paranoia to others, due to his long imprisonment. Despite this trait, he generally attempts to be pleasant and friendly to most people, though that doesn’t always work, especially when he’s annoyed.
   Baltazar tries to often take careful approach to situations, preferring to avoid unknown threats rather than stumble in blindly if possible. In combat, his preferred approach seems to be to use his talents of stealth to slip around the battlefield, supporting the party with spells, though he carries sword and bow as well. A more serious person than some of the group, he’s also shown willingness for brutality when deemed necessary.

Bhelan
    Quick witted and determined jackass of a man, in other words:  a human male, and a magic user at that.  Despite his young age of 22, Bhelan holds a white hair and bright blue eyes, standing shorter than most other humans of the group, at 5’ 6”. He wields scimitar and shield, and tends to dress in chainmail. He generally appears off-putting to most people he doesn’t know.
   Bhelan tends to rush into any situation directly, and holds a resolve that won’t give up or admit defeat or possibility of failure, no matter the situation. He’s always willing to take risks, even if everyone else considers such approach clear suicide.

Elli
    A charming female half-elf that was rescued by party from band of werewolves, Elli brings to the group her full 5’6” frame, topped with bright green eyes and short red hair around her pointy ears. Along with appearance, she carries bow and morningstar, and is dressed in mithral chain shirt, with its straps fashioned with green strips, tribute to Ehlonna.
    Elli is a healer first and foremost, preferring to avoid combat and focus on keeping the more aggressive members of party alive. When participating in battle, she prefers to stay afar and use her bow. So far, she’s proven to be quiet, not voicing a heavy opinion on party’s goings.

Yokeron d’Trios
    Standing at his full 3’9” tall, with sandy blonde hair and storm grey eyes, this halfling is a quirky individual, usually seen with mischievous grin and lopsided smile, likely always up to no good. As a halfling, he prefers going out barefoot, though wearing an enchanted robe. Perched on his head or shoulders often sits a pseudodragon.
    He’s young and wild, tending to do all sorts of things outside social norm for tall folks, or generally acceptable. Randomness, such as sleeping in a tree or singing for no reason, are part of his life, no matter what’s going on. Generally a nice fellow, he’s extremely vindictive when provoked, though quick to joke.

Dovan Mithrilhand
    Avatar of male dwarvishness. In other words, short, bearded, loud and likely drunk. Dovan clanks around wherever he goes in full plate, with his shield and axe close by. He’s usually the first one to combat, hacking anything that comes close with his axe, and if it doesn’t, he runs after it. He’s bald, with dark brown beard and his head is covered in dwarven tattoos.
    Dovan seems to be convinced of his need to protect everyone else in the group, being the one with most metal around him. Sent to serve as the party’s meat shield by Vincent, he appears to have taken the task literally. He also displays savage hate for gnomes, and a foul mouth when meeting them, or anyone else he doesn’t like, for that matter.

Geralt Ackland
    Six foot tall male human whirlwind of slaps and silliness, with hints of seriousness mixed among it. Geralt is a handsome man dressed in simple robes, topped by black hair and green eyes and is slightly overweight at his 190 lb.  He is the age of 22.
    Geralt is very changing personality. He has for long time, shown habits of extreme silliness, often harassing his companions to point of desperation, though as of late unusual seriousness seems to have taken him mostly over. Geralt is direct, as arrogant as can be expected of a wizard, and prefers to slap anyone he disagrees with a glove (including a marilith) with little regard for consequences. His favorite approach to combat is to stay back and cover battlefield in magical effects, including grease and, as the party calls it, “stripper-glitter”.

Meulin Mavros
    A pretty human girl, youngest member of the group at age of 19, Meulin, or Mew Mew, stands at 5’4”, with blue eyes and blonde hair. Usually carrying her crystal greatbow, along with chain shirt and falchion made of Blue Ice. She tends to prefer to cover up her gender with loose clothing, hood and aviator goggles. She’s usually accompanied by her leopard companion, Nepeta or Neppy.
    Meulin is quiet girl, rarely speaking with rest of the group, except when cats or dragons are in question. While she’s stated dislike for most living things, those two species are something she zealously defends no matter the situation, rather stepping in to try and talk to colossal red dragon that looked for party as lunch, rather than fight it. When it comes to combat, her preferred approach is to simply shoot the opponent in a series of uncomfortable locations.

Xianaya Harmerilin
    Wood elf woman who travels with party on occasion, Xia brings to them full 5’3” of hunter's fury and nature’s friend, complete with red hair, blue eyes, bow and her trusty shillelagh, along with her trusty wolf Adon.
    Xia is cautious on first meetings, and even slower to trust. She prefers to spend her time outdoors, as far away from cities as possible. Despite her elven heritage, she’s proven to be only a mediocre shot with bow, preferring to bludgeon any who gets in the way with her shillelagh.

The Dungeon Master
Foul minion of darkness, and mastermind of all evil and suffering in the world. This dark presence eternally looms over party’s attempts, usually doing its best to brutally murder them on their not-so-heroic quest. Hobbies include dating Lady Atreides, cult leader dreaming of world domination, and dreaming about setting the unfortunate party against Godzilla.

Chapter 3 (9-13-2014)

    Investigating the letter retrieved from band of werewolves, turned out to be invitation from Lady Atreides to leader of werewolves, in five days at her manor, along with map that was provided to said location. Party quickly developed an argument over if they should attempt to invade it in hopes of gaining more information about their foe or not. In the end, party was split in two sides, with Bhelan leading Meulin and Dovan in opinion that risk of being captured and horribly tortured to death was worth what they could find, and Baltazar, Geralt and Airy declaring that such attempt would be suicide, and that they would have no part on it if the trio decided to launch their invasion. In the end, Baltazar pointed out that manor was on their way to the capital, and as such, they could decide what to do it later, as they neared it.
    As party was preparing to set out towards human capital again, they noticed Yokeron the halfling having disappeared during the argument, so they were left only with Ellie the half-elven cleric to accompany them. A brief problem was encountered, as they now a party of seven with only four horses between them. Airy, as usual, sitting on Baltazar’s shoulder, Geralt summoning a phantom steed to serve as his mount, and Dovan taking Geralt’s horse, left Elli without one. Through an unusually knightly act from Baltazar, he offered her a ride, resulting with everyone mounted and fit to travel, after somehow fitting an entire camp’s worth of loot in their packs.
    There must be a curse laid upon profession of adventuring, for no trip on the road has ever been passed without something drastic happening between two locations. This was once again proven to be true, as our mismatched band of adventurers came across a lone gnome, resting on a rock by road. As party approached, he called out a greeting… and in the same intake of breath, demanded a toll for using his road. He was after all, revealed by further questioning, the self appointed authority governing this road on behalf of “Free gnomes movement”, whose apparent goal was to free gnomish race from enslavement by dwarves, and using this reason to ransack any travelers in the process (though Dovan bad-mouthing the gnome may have had something to do with it). After brief exchange, including ridiculous demand of one thousand gold toll, nearby trees and bushes burst into now familiar black fire, slightly chilling gnome ambushers, and with that, the party engaged once again in what they do best; killing and pillaging, even though quite few showed their distaste for Baltazar’s approach, and seeming disregard for lives.
    From first moments of the fight, it seemed that gnomes were badly outmatched by somewhat skilled group of adventurers, as Dovan, spewing obscenities about “free gnomes” rushed nearest ambusher as he skipped out of his bush, black flames licking his slightly chilled behind. This feeling of easy victory was soon changed however, as the leader gnome dashed off his rock, screaming orders in gnomish. Soon afterwards, a colossal red dragon burst out through nearby trees, severely changing course of the battle. Our heroes were not willing to give up so easily however, and moved to engage both gnomes and dragon. Geralt charged forward astride on his phantom steed, covering a swarm of gnomes in stinky, greenish cloud of stink, which in turn, resulted in few vomiting gnomes. Sadly, he seemed to forget he was riding, as gnomish bolt flew at him from nearby trees, Geralt teleported few feet to the side… ending up sprawled on dusty road, as his steed stayed where it was. At the same time, Airy used her wand to blast charging gnomes with ball of fire, searing off Geralt’s eyebrows once more. While brief hilarity ensued from some members of the party, Bhelan moved to toss bolt of fire at nearest gnome archer, high upon his tree, among other things melting his shoes off and causing severe burns on some less pleasant places. But Meulin, “Mother of Dragons”, wasn’t willing to engage what she saw as creature of majesty, and instead pleaded to red dragon to be honored with it’s name, and be told why such grand beast would aid mere toll collectors. Alas, dragon’s only response was three rays of molten fire, aimed at closest offender, Geralt. Even as Geralt teleported again out of the way for one of them. Two other rays struck true, searing holes in his robes and almost leaving him with early appointment with death.
    With Geralt sent scampering back to gentle care of Elli, who thus far had decided to say out of the fighting, Bhelan, Baltazar, Dovan, Airy and Meulin began to take out gnomes in earnest, quickly cutting down few of them and advancing towards towering dragon. They moved closer, supported by Meulin’s precise arrows (which by now, had pinned the poor gnome with molten shoes into tree he was sitting in by his leg) and her spike growth spell along with Airy’s fireballs, dragon opened its maw and let out screech akin to grinding of metal against metal. This terrifying noise was too much for Bhelan and Dovan, who proceeded to drop their weapons and flee as fast as they could from towering creature (which surprisingly, had been set slightly ablaze by Airy’s fireball), Baltazar teleported to the side, avoiding this fearsome effect, though not spared of grinding noise. In response, he set the ground beneath dragon ablaze in black fire, causing large portions of it to sear away, revealing monstrosity to be a clockwork creature. As Bhelan and Dovan kept fleeing, and Geralt was being mended by Elli, Airy and Baltazar continued to assault clockwork dragon, while Meulin, determined to stop her companions from fleeing, tied piece of rope between her arrows, and fired them after Dovan, tripping the terrified dwarf. Meanwhile, dragon construct finally toppled over in flames, unmoving.
    Party started to cheer for a moment, when leader gnome barked new orders, and from other side of the road, a creature resembling the legendary Tarrasque, though significantly smaller than the dragon, charged out through trees, almost tearing Nepeta apart. During this, Geralt threw a spell after both new monstrosity and the gnome, covering both in Black Tentacles. While the small Tarrasque easily avoided being grappled, towering still easily above ten feet, gnome was stuck fast. A new set of black fire burst out of ground beneath both Tarrasque and gnome, proving this monster to be another clockwork creation. Few remaining gnomes had by now fallen to Airy’s arrows and Meulin’s Spike Growth spell, and gnome leader and his remaining construct quickly followed in blaze.
    Afterwards, including already habitual ransacking everything, including cutting dragon and Tarrasque constructs up for parts, one gnome, caught alive during the fight, was woken up and interrogated. There was little new information from him regarding gnome freedom movement, apart from, fact that they were disorganized groups with no central camps or connections. Gnome was then left to Dovan, who’d been eagerly sharpening his axe nearby. But Baltazar’s decision was met with opposition, both Bhelan and Geralt leaping into what seemed to be gnome’s quick execution in hands of Dovan. While Dovan maintained argument that he was only going to talk with the gnome, resulting in Bhelan stripping him of his weapons before that would be allowed, Geralt cut the gnome loose, handed him a healing potion, and sent him on his merry way before dwarf could get his hands on the gnome’s neck.
    After all was settled, including Airy discovering series of graves, which seemed to be dwarven and one elven grave together, and demanding loudly that they’d be dug up for loot, and refused by most of the party, they were once again on their way. They didn’t again get far either, as party saw lone, ragged figure staggering towards them along the road. This turned out to be Xianaya, elven druidess they’d traveled with a while back. Group moved to see what had gotten their friend in such horrible condition, and after Geralt summoned a rope trick for privacy, Xianaya shared her tale while being tended by Elli and fed by Geralt. She’d been captured by Atreides’s servants on her way to capital, and taken to the same manor part of the party had been considering assaulting. Unfortunately, she’d been a bait to her mother, one of famed Seal Protectors, group of people who guard seals to the veil, keeping other planes from invading material plane. Her mother had been captured, but Xianaya, herself, had managed to escape. She asked party to save her mother, herself being in too bad condition, emotionally and physically, to try it. For once, our heroes unanimously agreed on something, and promised to save her mother, setting to plan their assault on manor which was deemed pure suicide by half of them just days before.

Chapter 2 (09-06-2014)

   After their near fatal battle with Liviana and her cultist allies, our heroic party once again has moment of calm, with an unknown dwarf having appeared among them.  After brief introductions, moments of suspicion exchanged amongst few members of the party towards the dwarf (mostly Baltazar and Geralt) and shamelessly ransacking everything from the now partially devastated tavern that wasn’t nailed down, party proceeded to spend a night under decent roof again, while waiting for Meulin to wake up from whatever concoction she consumed to trick the spider.
    In the morning, they set out towards capital once more, though after a moment of panic as Meulin thought her dear companion Nepeta, or Neppy as she was nicknamed, had disappeared during the battle. This fear was soon calmed down though, and they carried on once more. After few days of quiet travel, upon nightfall, they came across a palisade encampment that was not marked on any of their official maps. A brief conversation was had amongst the group, on if it would be wise to try to approach said camp. In the end, Geralt decided to approach its gates and see if band of weary travelers would be allowed to settle down for the night. During these negotiations, Meulin managed to spot a small figure, sleeping high up in a tree some distance away from both road and the camp. Deciding to take on Geralt’s role of aggravating people, she picked up a rock, and with all her might, hurled it at snoring figure. This action was followed by small thud as the rock hit, followed by a scream and even louder thud as snoring figure fell off its branch, smashing gracelessly on the forest floor. Thus came upon party’s introduction to loud and hurt halfling, Yokeron D’trios, who quite vocally demanded to know who’d interrupted his nap.
    During this exchange of making new friends, Geralt was rudely turned away from camp’s gates, but not before he was able to hear faint sobbing from the camp itself. After returning to group and heading back towards the road (followed closely by still angry Yokeron, who loudly demanded to know who hit him), they set up a vote on if they should invade the fort or not. This vote, which quickly turned into argument, seemed to support assaulting, with only Meulin and Baltazar voting against such rash actions. Airy, apparently tired of arguing turned herself invisible, and flew in the camp to scout. She found out that source of crying Geralt heard, was a caged half-elf in one of the tents, along with a letter that was sent by Lady Atreides. After a while Geralt, seemingly ignorant, or not trusting on Airy’s skills to scout, summoned a phantom steed, and turning both it and himself invisible, rode straight into camp to do scouting of his own. During this process, Geralt rode into the tent of captive half-elf, and used spell of Dimension Door to bring both her and himself safely out, so they could ask the half-elf, who introduced herself as Ellie, about the camp and its inhabitants.
    After brief conversation, it was established that they were indeed bandits, and group’s adventurer’s greed won, and they launched all out assault against camp, with Geralt leading the charge by riding invisibly over the camp and casting both Stinking Cloud and Black tentacles all over it. As these spells started to wreak havoc among bandits, rest of the party moved in, with Meulin, Airy, Ellie and Yokeron providing ranged support, blind Bhelan wandering in circles and Dovan Mithralhand, the dwarf, charged in to front gate while Baltazar crept off to the side of camp. As bandits started to pour out of camp’s gate, a woman, seemingly their leader, stopped before the party, and in front of their eyes, transformed into massive werewolf. Though taken by surprise by this turn of events, party valiantly (or blinded by greed) pushed forward. Meanwhile, Baltazar levitated above palisade wall, setting only path to gate from back of the camp ablaze with black fire.
    Meanwhile, at the front gate Dovan engaged the massive werewolf lady, with Yokeron firing Sound Lances on everything he could see, and Airy (after setting the gate ablaze with wand of fireball), Meulin and Ellie raining arrows upon remaining cultists. Geralt kept his actions to few, throwing few supporting spells like grease upon the field on occasion from his invisible mount over battlefield. While this was going on, Baltazar made his way back to the gate to assist his allies, content that his black fire would deal with most of their reinforcements. The large werewolf proved to be a tough opponent, as arrows, Sound Lances and Dovan’s axe did little to slow it down. Even Bhelan, blind as he was, joined the fray, being ridden by Airy to right direction, though he had to retreat soon, after being bitten by werewolf woman.
    As Ellie, who turned out to be a capable healer, did her best to aid Bhelan, she also was able to lift the magical blindness that had been laid upon him. This led to tender moment between her and Bhelan, and he, overjoyed of being able to see again, proceeded to hug Ellie enthusiastically. Soon, 2 joined the battle again, but at this time, what was likely the werewolf woman’s mate joined the fight, though he was slain by party’s combined efforts before assuming werewolf shape.
    Eventually, werewolf matron fell, and our heroic adventurers were free to move in to camp itself, making quick work of remaining werewolf-bandits. After this mass slaughter, they proceeded to act like reasonable, responsible adventurers…. To ransack the place of everything of value that wasn’t nailed down. During this process, Baltazar and Airy examined the letter she found closer, finding it to be invitation from Lady Atreides to this band of werewolves.