Adventure - Chapter 1

Chapter 2 - Invasion
Our heroes seek out their destiny and how it relates to an ancient portal stone.

Part 1 - Bloodeye and Bastion
After discovering the ancient journal of one of the heroes of the Demon Wars, the party decides to follow the advice of the journal's author and seeks out the Green Sisterhood.

They seek out the Pirate Bloodeye, renowned as an excellent information gatherer, and friend to the captain of their ship, Brannon Blackfoot. Each night, the party has shared dreams, seeming to portray other bearers of stones similar to the one they discovered in the Snake Temple along with the ancient journal. The night before they are to land in Haven to speak with Bloodeye, the party is ambushed by orcish scouts mounted on giant bats, who they overcome with the aid of Bloodeye's blood hawks. Fenrihr the druid uses his druidic magic to communicate with Bloodeye through the hawks, and Bloodeye agrees to meet with the party at the Green Salt Tavern in Bastion.

While on the way to Bastion, the party encounters Dwarven Merchant named Flint, and fends off some flying owlbears with their deck cannon. The strange dreams continue.

Part 2 - Research and Weywilder
=== In Bastion, the party meets with Bloodeye, and then splits up to do research in their own ways. Fenrihr follows a lead given by Bloodeye, and heads down to Apothecary Row to look into a green-robed Apothecary who may have info on the Green Sisterhood by virtue of being a woman and wearing green; while Alister makes his way to the library in the Temple of Mammet the Duskmaiden and pours into some histories of the Demon Wars. === The Old Apothecary gives Fenrihr a map which points out the location of Myrriah the Elf's Cabin in Weywilder, and suggests that Myrriah may have the information the party needs in regard to the mysterious stone.

On their way to the cabin, the party encounters Silica the Wood Elf, who fires upon them thinking them to be orcs, and then retreats into Myrriah's Cabin to hide, although Myrriah seems to be absent. After gaining Silica's trust by rescuing her Giant Eagle mount from an orcish mining camp, the party convinces Silica to show them to the camp of her people, where they are gifted with a feast and matching Cloaks of Elvenkind. The leader of the camp agrees to perform a ritual to discern the location of Myrriah in the forest in exchange for the return of her ancestor's bones from the leader of nearby tribe of Quaggoths, who is currently wearing them as a necklace.

Chapter 1 - An Enchanted Map
Our heroes follow an enchanted map readable only be the blind halfling pirate Brannon Blackfoot.

http://ashkar.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Maps/8915

Parts 8 and 9 - Exploring the snake temple.
On the way to the Snake temple, some prisoners of the little lizard people are freed, Mikkalakka, the druidic leader of the winged lizard people, and Celes, a human mercenary whose airship crash landed on these isles. Mikkalakka is searching for a rare "magic snake" whose venom he thinks will be a miraculous cure for a mysterious blight that is affecting his people, and Celes is searching for fellow survivors of her crew on the isles. Together they make their way into the temple.

The temple is dedicated to a humanoid snakelike deity with 8 arms and his eight followers. Scattered throughout are various stone and bronze statues of the followers, some of which are keys to opening doors throughout the temple, and others which come to life and attack when doors are opened out of sequence. The temple is in a state of ruin to some extent, and is currently inhabited by giant snakes, stirges, rust monsters, and swarms of rats, all of which are quickly exterminated by our party of heroes.

The only remnant of the original inhabitants is an ancient skeleton in the rear room of the temple, which contains a set of braziers which must be lit in the correct sequence to deactivate the glowing runes encircling a stone chest in the center of the floor, and to avoid activating the room's guardians, huge flaming skeletal snakes.

After a couple of poor guesses, the runes are deactivated and the chest opened. It contains an old journal, a strange magic stone, and a pile of gold. When Alister casts detect magic on the stone it seems to break a ward of concealment around it, and the party receives a vision of a shrouded orc, elated to have finally discovered the stone's location, as well as an image of an Orcish Warfleet bearing down on the city of Devil's Gate.

Alister discovers a magic staff, and Fenrir destroys a millenia-old tapestry, which causes all of the inactive guardians of the room to suddenly come to life at once. The party fights for their lives against the animate skeleton of a snake-priest and five fire-snake minions. In the desparate struggle, Calendra is slain, shriveled into a dry halfling husk by an inflict wounds spell, but the party eventually prevails and escapes the temple with the loot.

Mikkalakka finds the snake he was looking for, and Celes is reunited with two of her brothers in arms. The journal in the chest bears an obscure note written by Cassius Blackfoot, ancestor of Brannon and Calendra, warning of some unknown peril now that the stone is unearthed and advising that its finder seek out the "Green Sisterhood" for enlightenment. The party turns their airship north towards the Orcish Armada...

Part 7 - Journey to the Snake Temple
Our heroes make their way across narrow bridges and through dense forest on their way to the Mysterious Snake Temple to which their treasure map points. Along the way they fight their way through a pair of angry gryphons and a horde of the flightless variety of the Isle's Lizard-people.

They make their way to the lizard-people's village, where they immediately start setting fire to the place and doing battle with the tenacious lizards. A trio of the giant lizard mounts are released from their cages to come out and do battle, and the tribe's shaman leader slings a couple of spells. Eventually the heroes triumph and the foes are defeated.

What's left is navigating through the village to the peak of the nearby mountain to enter the forbidding Snake Temple.

Part 6 - Mount Samuru conclusion and the Snake Isles
The party fends of the remains of the evil vultures and specters in the courtyard of the Abbey at Mount Samuru, and complete their exorcism of the place by hunting down the invisible poltergeist in the Dining Room. The poltergeist leads them on a merry chase through several rooms of the ruins until a final confrontation in the Greenhouse. In a shower of shattered glass from the broken windows, Alister and Calendra are rendered unconscious. Maelgorrh and Wolf-Fenrihr complete the battle with the dire spirit as their companions bleed out on the floor. One of the unconscious heroes is saved with the last of Maelgorrh's holy power, but for the other it is too late.

Mooka, the Kenku priest, leads everyone to the Altar in the Abbey's temple, where he calls upon the Sun God to Revive the fallen hero... and the party spends the rest of the day ridding the deceased residents of their possessions.

Our heroes return to their ship and Captain Brannon sails them away to the site of the Lost Treasure.

Part 5 - Mount Samuru
The party explores the ruins of the Abbey at Mount Samuru. The vineyards have been destroyed by blight, and are now infested by evil sticklike creatures known as Twig Blights. Almost all of the images of Samuru have been destroyed; statues toppled over, and stained-glass windows shattered. The priests are slaughtered save the enigmatic kenku known as Mooka.

Mooka explains that the destruction was wrought by brothers from the Samuru Monastery in Curtwall, who turned to snakes and slaughtered their fellows. The place is now haunted by angry specters, and strange creatures of fire and a gang of vultures feasts upon the dead. We leave off in the middle of a showdown between the Heroes and the forces of Evil at work within the Abbey. Will our heroes be able to stave off an onslaught of Hateful Spirits while being assaulted by vicious carrion birds? Find out next time!

Part 4 - Bloodeye's Tower
The party enters Bloodeye's Tower via a grate in the basement floor. They quickly ascend to the 2nd floor where they confront the Wight Nestor, who has been in command of the Zombie Pirates and is interested in obtaining the enchanted map for himself.

The wight is dispatched along with several of his zombie minions and the goblin Bloodeye is found bound in gagged in the next room. After some stern questioning of Bloodeye and Brannon, It is discovered that Nestor was once the first mate aboard the Harpy's Song, and has been seen associating with some Orcs in Black Cloaks and Rust-red Iron Armor in order to obtain the map for a mysterious character referred to as "M" in a note on Nestor's person.

After concluding affairs in Haven, the party makes its way south to Mount Samuru. The ascent up the mountain is quiet but forboding. Several depictions of Samuru along the path have been desecrated, statues toppled, and carvings defaced; and there is a growing sense of unease as they climb the path to the Abbey at the top of the mountain.

The front entrance to the abbey is broken in, the giant iron-shod door smashed off its hinges and a huge statue overturned and laying across the threshold, barring entry. A dirt path leads around to the right side, where a small servant's entrance stands in a shadow against the wall. The musky smell of death hangs heavy in the air.

Part 3 - The Journey Begins (Alister)
Our heroes set out aboard the Harpy's Song, piloted by blind Brannon Blackfoot. First, they head westward to Garrison, a Dwarven Mercenary Stronghold, to recruit some sailors to pilot their ship. They negotiate with Tagmar Freehammer, leader of one of the stronghold's many mercenary companies, to secure the services of 8 stout Dwarven sailors. In exchange for a barrel of Twistweed, Tagmar agrees to pay the salaries of the crew for a month of service, and even throws in a Soldier as a bonus.

With a new crew manning the ship, sailing goes much faster, and our heroes head south to the free port of Haven, commonly known as a harbor for pirates and their ilk. However, as they near the town, the players are attacked by a flock of vicious bloodhawks with daggerlike beaks. The complementary dwarven soldier is determined to be incompetent and is thrown in the hold, and it comes to light that the bloodhawks are most likely servants of the pirate Bloodeye, who is a central figure in the politics of Haven, and until now was thought to be friend to Captain Blackfoot.

Once docked at the pirate city, the heroes head to a nearby tavern to reconnoiter. After a little bit of arm wrestling and hobnobbing, they learn some gossip regarding Bloodeye and the recent arrival of a mysterious ship with a strange crew, as well as gain some knowledge of a secret entrance to Bloodeye's Tower in Haven. A brawl breaks out, involving a zombie and some more bloodhawks, when the players make their exit and head toward the secret passage at the heels of a shady gnome.

After bypassing a zombie sentry with a tricky bit of illusion, some careful stepping around acidic slime, the players make their way to the back door of Bloodeye's Tower, an iron grate at the top of a twenty foot pit, with a pair of zombies weighing it down.

Part 2 - Introductions (Calendra)
The captive pirate and the mysterious halfling woman are interrogated. She is Calendra "Callie" Blackfoot, and the pirates are after her because she has escaped their camp with an ancient treasure map. However, the pirates still have her father, Brannon Blackfoot, imprisoned, so she enlists the help of the Paladin Maelgorrh and Druid Fenrihr to help rescue him.

Callie, Maelgorrh and Fenrihr, infiltrate the pirate camp, rescue Brannon Blackfoot, and take off on the pirate's own ship, the Harpy's Song. Once everyone is safely in the air, Old, Blind, Brannon Blackfoot explains that Callie is actually the descendant of one of the seven heroes of the Demon Wars, and her Treasure Map is enchanted so that you must be blind to read it. Fortunately, he has such an impairment, and he promises Maelgorrh and Fenrihr half the treasure if they help him recover it.

Part 1 - Party-crashing Pirates (Fenrihr and Maelgorrh)
We began in the town of Vigilance, a traveller's waystop between large cities. It is a bustling town known for its large inn, "the Burning Beacon," which is built in an abandoned tower left over from the Demon Wars.

The patrons of the inn are busy discussing a recent increase in pirate activity in the area when a distraught halfling woman busts through the door and runs straight across the room and up the stairs.

Immediately behind her, five tough looking pirates rush through the door, and start breaking things, demanding to know where she's gone. Things get a little hairy and a fight breaks out.

During the battle, two of the pirates are slain, and one is taken captive, but two escape, including their leader, who vows to return.