Session Date: 2024-01-21

16 Huhtikuu, 1365

The crew regroups after the assignation of the Pastor. After a bit of back and forth they decide that it is probably best to attempt to rescue the prisoners before taking on the clockwork guardian down on the lowest level of the church.

Descending the stairs on both sides of the church, Fynn Callaghan is able to block the stairwells to prevent anyone from coming up while they execute a prison break. While the crew enters the prison level they find themselves subject to an aura of truth, though some are able to shake it off, others feel the strange compulsion to only be able to speak truth.

A lone clockwork paladin stands guard, and across from it is a statue of the Mother of Mazes, holding a potion. The crew tells the Paladin that they were sent by the Pastor, and the Paladin, believing that anyone who enters the aura can only speak truth allows the crew to not only search the prison but release the prisoners. The Paladin also tells them that the potion the statue is holding is part of the test of merit.

In the prison the crew finds another delving crew lead by Iskender, a male armadillo. In the back of the cell the crew sees a female bison cleric, Elena, tending to an unconscious female ovine, Aileen. Fynn is able to help with the healing of Aileen, enough to get her on her feet and with the help of her friends get he upstairs and out. Iskender is very set on helping defeat the guardian below as he wants to make right by his defeated crew.

Towards the back of the prison the crew finds two more occupied cells. In one cell they find a lone female elk Paladin, still in full plate armor, Lyraleth Morgenstern. Across from her is an uppity Tradewind Vulpine, Cadence, who also offers to help in the coming fight. Lyraleth offers to help see the freed prisoners and townspeople back to their homes and will catch up with the crew later.

After escorting prisoners upstairs and making some final preparations, Fynn clears the stairwell from earlier and the crew heads down into the depths of the church. Through a hallway lined by clockwork soldiers they make their way into a large, sanctuary-like room. Dominated by a column lined pool, the room is lit by torches held by statues of the mother of mazes. At the far end of the room is the clockwork guardian. In a moment of quiet as the crew takes in the surroundings, the ticking and whirring of the clockwork beings is the only sound.

The clockwork beings in the room come to life and battle ensues...

Session Date: 2024-01-02

15-16 Huhtikuu, 1365

The party finishes off the clockwork soldiers in the town and as the last one collapses, it lets out an earsplitting shriek.

As the party regroups and gets its bearings, they notice a door open and a canine face poke out. They go over and are ushered inside by Councilman Thomas. Thomas is an old hound with dapper clothes and old, tired eyes. He tells the crew about the situation in town and how he even tried to scout out where the clockwork soldiers were coming from and where the townspeople were disappearing to. He tells the crew about a church that appeared up to the north in the woods. He tells them that this wasn't the first time that the soldiers had been defeated, the should expect reinforcements within a day. With every set of reinforcements, the townspeople have been forced to stay in confinement for even longer.

While they are chatting, some of the remaining townspeople start coming out and milling about the square. The crew brings in the wagon of supplies and starts distributing food and supplies to the townspeople. They are able to find a few useful items in the shed that the soldiers had been using for confiscated weapons and armor. They also learn about someone who might be able to supply them with a few potions to aid on their quest. One of the townspeople offers the crew a place to stay for the night before they set off on the road to the church.

The next morning, the crew gets up early and heads out on the road north. They manage to sneak past the convoy of replacement soldiers that are heading back to the town without provoking a fight. As the day moves on the crew come to a large clearing where the cathedral-like church stands.

Staying on the edges of the clearing, the crew scouts the church, noting the large stained glass windows depicting scenes of a hooded figure with a mask of mazes. The scenes look eerily like Pirohuan iconography, but gravely distorted. While scouting they note that there are two small side doors on the east and west sides of the building, along with the main doors on the south side of the building. Attempting to peer inside they can make out figures in the pews, as well as a lone figure preaching at the front of the congregation.

The crew decides to make entry through one of the smaller side doors, with Fynn and El sneaking inside. When they hear the preacher start spouting blasphemous ideology they waste no time simply assassinating the mouse. Phil comes in and starts releasing the congregation from whatever spell the preacher had them under. Most of the congregation didn't even remember how they got there, and are very ready to return home. However some of them do remember that they had seen people be taken downstairs and suspect some kind of prison below the church, they also think that is where the soldiers keep coming from.

The crew resolves to rescue any prisoners and destroy whatever is making the soldiers.

Session Date: 2023-12-26

15 Huhtikuu, 1365

The crew picks up a new lead from Annette Starcross as Littfeld Caravan is preparing to move on to it's next port of call. This time, the crew is answering the call of a strange letter from the Glasshedge district of Goldentide. Annette gave the crew a letter that read:

Delvers,

The district of Glasshedge has been cordoned off from the rest of its city, and barriers have gone up across every street leading into the neighborhood. The whole place has gone quiet. A cadre of soldiers have quarantined the neighborhood, and they’ve begun carrying the locals off to some remote location in the wilderness. We haven’t confirmed its exact location, but Dungeon activity is all but assured.

What’s more, bizarre flyers have been found nailed to doors and blowing through the streets of the larger city. They advertise the “Church of the Mother of Mazes” and her “merciful mission.” One of the flyers is attached in this report.

Local officials have been no help. It seems the guard want nothing to do with it, but I don’t think the trouble will stay in Glasshedge forever. We’ve negotiated with the occupying force and secured you a contract delivering emergency food supplies. They’ll be expecting your arrival and will allow you past the barrier. The rest is up to you.

The crew sticks with the caravan as it heads towards Patrie, then breaks off and continues Northwest towards Goldentide. As they draw closer to the Glasshedge district, they can see the barricades, and a lone guard at the one on the road they are on. As they approach the barricade they discover that the guard is neither beast nor brethren, but a clockwork construct. It allows them to pass with their shipment of food and supplies.

Entering the center of the district the crew is met by more clockwork guards and a clockwork paladin. As they attempt to talk to the paladin, it continues to reiterate that they are there to server the Mother of Mazes and that their job is bring everyone into her fold. The crew presses a bit for answers as to where the missing townspeople are, and for additional information about this "goddess" but the Paladin seems to only have a few answers. Phil even offers to join the church, but is a little put off when the paladin insists that he give up all his worldly possessions.

As it seems like no conversation is going to get them anywhere a fight breaks out between the crew and the clockwork soldiers. Phil attempts his new plant growth trick and manages to ensnare a bunch, and the party starts taking them down.

Session Date: 2023-12-12

6 Huhtikuu, 1365

After spending some time helping get mead from the old temple and a good long rest, the crew spends a day around Littfeld. It starts out showing their new friend Fynn Callaghan around the caravan and telling him about some of the delves that the crew has been on since they joined Littfeld Caravan. All of the odd happenings, the strange creatures, and the pink goo really piqued Fynn's interests, and he is a little concerned that the crew hasn't reported any of their findings to anyone who seems to particularly care.

The crew starts by introducing Fynn to Annette Starcross. Annette explains that she doesn't usually talk to anyone else about the leads she gives out, and that the crew hadn't checked back in with here for a bit, so she wasn't fully up to speed on some of things that the crew had found. For the time being it sounds like the crew plans to stick with the caravan.

Phil's shopping trip takes him over to Lucas and Grier’s where he commissions an owl-feather hat. Lucas says it will take a few days to get the stock of feathers required, but to come back when the caravan reaches the next town and they should have a hat for Phil. Phil pays a small, upfront fee, with the remainder due on delivery. Phil also visits the Bluebird Wagon, the produce and foodstuffs vendor of the caravan. Stella helps him find some rations, a bag of beans, and some apples. Lastly, Phil stops by the music wagon to have some work done on his war gong.

Meanwhile, El and Fynn head over to talk to Morris Gypsum-Rebus-Yllaster about the pink goo and strange creatures. Morris tells them about the experimenting he has done on the goo. The crew hadn't told him about the monster printer, and he is very interested in that and wants to go check it out. Fynn tries to insist that is a bad idea and maybe they should have some Dramphinian Paladins make sure it is safe. It is hard to say what Morris will do, as he is quite eccentric.

Next stop on the caravan tour for El and Fynn is The Big Wagon to talk to Cullen McGuire. Fynn would like to know if there are any Bretheren Shamans in the caravan and if there are any Dramphinian Paladins around. Cullen of course is very much interested in more pies from the young delvers, but he is able to direct them to Bodhi, a shaman who is currently in camp. He tells the friends that they often do have Paladins around camp, but he doesn't think any are currently in residence. Cullen promises to let the crew know if any show up.

The whole crew catches up and Phil asks Sam for some help and the two of them head off out of the caravan while everyone else heads over to talk to Bodhi. Phil decides it is a good time to experiment with the magic items he found in the underground temple. He places Sam, sprinkles a bit of the Soil of Fecundity around her, steps back and throws the beans and some apple seeds at her while casting plant growth. Nearly immediately a huge apple tree springs up and a bunch of bean stalks entangle Sam. While Sam is able to keep her crackle tart safe, she doesn't quite escape the vines. Phil has to cut her out of the beanstalks. Phil is quite pleased, Sam is a little put off, and a bunch of people are intrigued as to the appearance of a giant apple tree outside the caravan. Phil takes some apples before heading back towards the caravan.

At the same time, El, Fynn, and Stacy find Bodhi. Once again Fynn expresses the concern he has for the things that the crew has found on their recent delves. Bodhi tells them that while she doesn't have many details she has heard that humans may have conducted similar experiments back in the broken world before it was broken. She is interested in the technology that was the monster printer as it sounds like it could be from the broken world.

Session Date: 2023-11-28

The crew continued to press through the underground temple. Doing a bit of exploring of the big chamber, they encounter a handful of sarcophagi. They find one more big set of double doors that lead to a massive mausoleum. Opening the doors the crew could see a massive plant growing in the middle of the room as well as Hannah and another woman who were seemingly enthralled by the plant.

In traditional fashion, Sam Howell runs into the room and is completely overwhelmed by the aura that the plant is emitting. She becomes charmed by the plant. Emily also takes off to try to rescue her partner, and also becomes caught in the aura of the plant. Some of the more cautious and skeptical members of the crew hang back and start waging a ranged attack on the seemingly hostile plant. Phil Calling is able to get some magic in place to counter the plant's aura, allowing the crew to get in a bit closer. The plant makes a few assaults on the minds of the crew, but once Hannah is freed from the control of the plant she unleashes some powerful magics to both offer some healing to the crew and do some damage.

The crew has a pretty hard fight, but finally makes tossed salad out of the Whispering Blossom, releasing it's hold on anyone still enthralled. The crew finds some Soil of Fecundity, and Fynn takes a sample of the plant.

On the way out of the temple the crew finds a store room full of barrels of mead. Taking a smaller barrel that they can carry, when they get back to town the local tavern keeper explains that it is a rare find and enters into a business deal with the crew for the find. All of the captives are returned to their friends and families and the town toasts the crew as heroes. The crew offers to have Fynn join them on their continued adventures.

Session Date: 2023-11-14

The crew, with their new friend, Fynn Callaghan, head underground into the cave entrance that the twig blights and vine creatures seemed to have been guarding. Once inside the cave they come to a fork in the cave system. On one side, stairs lead up to ornate double doors, while on the other, a natural tunnel leads off to another smaller door.

The more studious folks in the group head up to the ornate doors to get a good look at them. Carvings of traditional Pirhouan iconography cover the doors, indicating that this may have once been a Bethel. While seemingly long forgotten, there were signs and scents that this has been actively used recently by a number of creatures.

Ever diligent, El did not find any traps on the great doors, pushes open the doors and leads the crew in, triggering a trap in the next room. Vines spring out from the floor, ensnaring the rabbit, while the rest of the crew manages to dodge out of the way. It takes a few minutes of hacking at the vines to break El free, but eventually, with the unexpected help of Emily they manage to beat back more animated plants. The crew takes a moment to look around the room, realizing they are in some sort of tomb or crypt. While some of the sarcophagi seemed to be disturbed or damaged, the crew decided that they shouldn't do any further disturbing of the dead.

Continuing through the room Fynn discovers that the next set of doors, also covered in carvings, depicts iconography that he has never seen before. Motifs of plants that don't appear to be native to the Beast World adorn these doors. In some ways it looks like the carvings may have been carved over something older, but it is hard to tell.

While Fynn stops to really dig into the doors, the rest of the party pushes on into the dark corridor beyond. In El's infinite wisdom, he sets the next set of doors on fire in the hope of shedding some light on the corridor. Meanwhile, Stacy Charelston leads some of the friends through the darkness, stumbling into a room that may have once served as a sanctuary. Today it is being used as a holding room for the beasts that have been abducted by the cultists. Some cultist guards get the jump on the crew as they come out of the darkness a bit unprepared for a fight. However the crew rallies and quickly takes control of the situation.

After dispatching the cultists, the crew takes stock of the situation. They have found Samuel Tinsley, the young ovine whose sister they had met in town, along with Thadric Greenbough. Seemingly missing from the group of captives is Emily's partner, Hannah. Not wanting to leave anyone behind, the crew headed back through the dark corridor to the still smoldering door. Without any real element of surprise, the crew piled into the main room of the ancient bethel. The cultists being none to happy about losing their prisoners, are not wary about picking a fight with the crew. The crew put up a good fight though and was able to beat back the cultists.

Session Date: 2023-11-07

_4 Huhtikuu, 1365_

The party gets a good night's rest after returning all the stolen items to townspeople and visitors of the festival. Not to mention some pretty full coin purses as well. They set out with the intent to enjoy the festival, but are soon pulled aside by a distressed ovine woman seeking their assistance.

Elena Tinsley is missing her brother, Samuel Tinsley. She tells the party that Sam has been missing since the previous day. Sam Howell is a little confused at why this woman thinks she is missing, forgetting others share the same name. Elena tells the crew that Sam likes to look at all the flower gardens and that she thinks he headed off to one of the gardens north of the town. She says it is very unusual for Sam to not come home and not tell her where he is going. The two are very close.

The crew decides to do a bit more investigation in the town to find out as much as they can about the missing teen. Stopping first at the Fairweather Floral shop, they talk to Clara Fairweather. From Clara they learn that some odd things have been reported in the Whispering Garden. While she insists that the garden is named such because of the wind, there are a couple in the crew who feel like that is a little suspect. Clara suggests that they might learn more from some folks over in the local pub, so the crew heads down the street.

The local pub, owned by Alden Brackenwood is hopping with people celebrating the festival. Some of the crew are a bit surprised to find a pub run by a brethren. They also encounter one lone wolf, Emily, who appears to be the only creature in the pub not celebrating. Sam slides in to talk to Emily, learning that Emily's partner, Hannah, has also gone missing. She tells Sam that her partner is a druid, and they came to the festival to catalog new and exotic plants. She also said that Hannah was out exploring the Whispering Garden and Emily spent the entire night looking for her. Emily offers to come help, but the crew insists that she rest and they will continue the search.

With all this new information the crew heads north, out of town to the Whispering Garden. Walking through the garden they stumble upon a ursine bear stuck in a tree. The tree seems to be covered in what appears to be a living vine that has taken a hold of the bear. The crew works quickly to free the bear and chop up the vine. After some introductions the party solicit's Fynn's help to locate the missing beasts. While searching the crew encounters more living plants. Vine and twig blights start coming after the party almost as if they were protecting something.

After making a fairly sizable pile of kindling out of the twig blights, the crew finally clears a path. Fynn's nose leads them to find the entrance to a cave system that takes them under the gardens. The crew gets ready for another delve.

1 Huhtikuu, 1365

The crew arrived in Granfield just as the Granfield Spring Blossom Festival was kicking off. The town was a buzz with activity, shops open, market stalls in the square and lots of visitors from all over Allemance coming to celebrate.

After a bit of shopping, upgrading some weapons and armor, the crew witnessed a commotion outside of the Swiftwater Boutique. The shop owner, Elara Swiftwater, came running out into the street yelling about thieves. Being a group of generally good Samaritans, the crew headed over to investigate. According to Elara, the thieves had taken The Lupine Heart, a treasured family heirloom with some magical properties. Not only did it have significant meaning to the Swiftwater family, but also to the town. Believed to be passed down from Pirhoua herself, it is believed that the pendant offered some protection and good fortune to Granfield.

The only information that Elara could give the crew was that she believed the thieves were Murine Rats and it seemed like they may have headed south. As the crew attempted to get a bet on the rats, another commotion went up around the general store. The crew went by to check it out, discovering more thefts. The shop keeper also described the thieves as rats and pointed the crew in a general direction.

Following the leads, the crew headed out of town, and were finally able to distinguish a set of tracks that lead them a little ways off into the foothills where they discovered an abandoned tower. It seemed like a recently well traveled area and a good place for a hideout, so they began to hunt around for the thieves.

What the crew did not expect was to run into two Batwolves in the ruins. After experiencing the ferocity of the fiends, El was quick to nope out of there and jumped down the well in the center of the ruins. Not long after the rest of the crew followed suit, opting for whatever might come rather than potentially fighting a loosing battle.

El was both pleasantly surprised and a little shocked hitting the cold spring water pool in the cave below the ruins, but happy to be out of danger for a moment, ducking out of the way as the rest of the crew came tumbling down after. As they splashed around for a minute in the pool, Sam remembered that Batwolves are usually indicative of vampires...

When Phil sings about the adventure later, he tells the story as if this daring escape had been intentional, because they quickly discovered that the cave system they jumped into was the hideout of the thieves. El was able to scout ahead and figure out where and how many thieves were there and the crew quickly came up with a plan to take them on. With Phil doing his best to keep them off balance, and almost completely incapacitate the leader with Tasha's Hideous Laughter for nearly all of combat, the crew came out victorious, though a little banged up.

The stolen goods were recovered and the crew returned to town returned everything to rightful owners. Elara was so relieved to have the Lupine Heart back, she paid the crew a handsome sum of 1000gp and offered to help them any time they were in the area. She was also excited to have her people make El some new styles.

As the festival continues, the crew rides the high of helping to save it, and at least a few people start to recognize them. Though the dark thought of vampires in the area lingers in the backs of a few minds.

Session Date: 2023-10-10

24 Maaliskuu, 1365

The party continues into the depths of the dungeon where they encounter what seem to be iron goblin skeletons. As if the skeletons of these creatures were cast, or manufactured.

As they make fairly short work of putting the skeletons down, El climbs up through a tunnel to check out a hidden room. The room has a chest in the middle and blood and bones along one wall. El noped out of there pretty fast deciding that whatever was in the chest was not worth the risk.

Following the only other way out of the skeleton room, the party stands at the top of a deep shaft. While they manage to doge a loose rung in the ladder, Sam Howell's impulsive ladder slide to the bottom sets off another exploding putty trap. The explosion blows a hole in the floor which Sam falls through and alerts a pair of Delver Hunters looking to stop any delvers coming into the dungeon. While Stacy tries to talk them out of a fight, it quickly becomes unavoidable. The crew does manage to put down Aili and Kjartan.

While going through the hunter's camp, the party finds a hidden door that leads into a laboratory of sorts. They discover notes and molds for making goblins as well as a failed experiment that led to the creation of a "Choblin" (half chicken half goblin). The party frees the choblin from its cage, but doesn't want it to follow them, so they lock it in the lab.

After taking a rest in the hunter's camp, the party moves out to the final room of the dungeon. In it they discover a machine that is printing goblins. However the machine has broken and it has created a massive deformed goblin with multiple heads, arms, and legs. As the party begins to try to put this monstrosity out of its misery they quickly realize that the printer is continuing to work and is healing the massive beast. The crew splits their focus, some taking on the machine itself and others taking on the goblin. Some of the crew take some heavy hits, but they manage to destroy the machine and kill the deformed goblin.

All in all, it looks like someone is using the magic of the dungeon to try to create some abominations.

The crew heads back out of the dungeon, riding the highs of their first delve and the adrenaline of the fight. They mount up in their wagon and head back to meet up with Littfeld.

Upon their return to the caravan the crew receives a letter:

Dear Delvers,

We’ll never forget you for saving our

homes. Our children will grow up safe

because of you, and we will make sure

they know your names.

Please visit us sometime. You are always

welcome here.

Sincerely,

The people of Meadowmere

Session Date: 2023-10-02

23 Maaliskuu, 1365

When morning comes, the crew set off towards the nearby village of Meadowmere. They find it abandoned, as if no one has been around for a while. Much like the scout report had indicated.

As they press on towards where they think the dungeon entrance is, they are ambushed by small green creatures (goblins) that have built some structures in the trees. While the crew take a bit of a beating, they were able to take out all the goblins. These strange creatures are not something they had really ever seen before. They certainly did not seem to be native of the Beastworld.

The friends retreat back to their wagon and the village hoping to find some useful first aid supplies. While they find some bandages, they don't find much useful and frankly are feeling a little under prepared for having to do bandage up their friends. They decide to tend to wounds and get a good night's rest before heading down in to the dungeon.

The next morning, feeling a lot better, the team heads back up to the dungeon entrance. With Sam Howell in the lead, they start down the stairs. As Sam pokes a little violently at some exploding putty with her sword, she is deafened for a bit. The rest of the crew manage to escape as they were far enough behind her.

The first room they come to has two stone tablets in the center with drawings and notes about goblins. The closer the friends look at the drawings, they more they realize that these are not so much medical in nature, but more light a schematic on how to build a goblin, how to build a living creature. From internal organs all the way to clothes and equipment.

The crew heads even deeper into the dungeon, encountering a room full of animated goblin parts. Arms, legs, heads, feet. The swarm of parts goes after the crew, but El figures out how to stop more from being dropped in on the group. Eventually the friends make goblin soup out of all the parts.

With an assist from Sam, El climbs up the chute where the parts came from and discovers Dungeon Component 1136. It also sounds like the walls might be breathing...