DnDNerds!

Jhank leads Gemwin, Cassius, and STEVEN III on an exploratory expedition out of Axeholm, where they discover the dangers of Snow Scorpion Crevasse, the cruel Thorny Hills, a grotto cave home to crag cats, a griffon nest, a votive shrine to the water goddess Eldath, some barrow wight mounds, the polluted quarry, and the stirge-infested sinkhole, ending in the town of Llorkh, where the crew join up with the spellcasters of the Manticore's Muse.

The Llorkh spellcasters Cassius and Kain are joined by War Cleric Sigurd, who is looking for his lost friend Ivar, taken prisoner by the Zhents. With Sigurd leading the way, they cut a deal with Winget Sparrow of the Black Network for some information, then find a drug dealer named Chuka who knows the way to Lost Hope Prison up in the mountains. They encounter kobolds, the stone giant Hazbarg, centaurs, and the cyclops Palidos, who relieves them of a mule. At the prison, they don't manage to get past the security to find and rescue Ivar, so that will have to be a future quest. On the journey back they stop in and visit the Axeholm dwarves.

Arty leads Jorgrim, Bariq, MikMek, and Swift Current back into the giants' lair, where they detour into a forge haunted by undead dwarves, who life drain everyone and drop Jorgrim with mummy rot! They retreat back into the open air, then regroup and come back again the following day to take on the remaining giants. A mine cart is used as a diversion and the group descends by rope and stairway to take on a hill giant and verbeeg. All the former captive miners have been slain by the giants, but luckily there's some treasure at the bottom of the mine, including a magical battleaxe that MikMek reluctantly accepts.

Jorgrim leads MikMek, Bariq, Arty and Swift Current to a mine near Lowerthorn territory rumored to have Ettins keeping humans as slaves. Once there, Swift Current wakes a sleeping ogre by trying to steal his chain and a huge, multi-level, all out battle occurs. Several giants are killed and several PCs go down but the lead giants escape - the party resolves to get reinforcements and conquer the site once and for all!

Dwarven paladin Gemwin leads Render, S.T.E.V.E.N. III, Roff, and the survivors of New Ammarindar as they retake the dwarven hold of Axeholm. Roff shows how a very big bugbear fits into a small arrow slit. In the throne room, Gemwin is attacked by a licklash ghoul and other undead start to pour into the room, but the dwarven priests of Dumathoin summon their Spirit Guardians and destroy the unclean ghouls. Upstairs, the party runs into two spectral elf banshees that cause them some problems, but luckily the two warforged artificers are immune to the wailing effect. Gemwin begins to make plans to settle the dwarves here and start New New Ammarindar...

Jhank leads Render, new warforged artificer S.T.E.V.E.N. Mk III, new bugbear paladin Roff, and new dwarven paladin Gemwin (yes, that's three new PCs) on an expedition into the Greypeak Mountains to save the survivors of the fall of New Ammarindar, who are sheltering at some abandoned goliath caves. Once there, they decide to look for the abandoned dwarfhold of Axeholme as a possible new start to the elusive dream of a dwarven domain in the harsh Greypeaks.

Elior leads Kain and Neville out into the wilderness near Llorkh, where they get attacked by stirges, find the Red Wizard Tharidun Mirza excavating some mysterious Netherese ruins with a zombie crew that includes the body of their dead friend Zimevos, then they run out of food in the hills. Foraging separately, Elior is attacked and killed by a panther. His friends find the body and are then joined by young goliath barbarian Bron, who explores several nearby hexes with the spellcasters (and narrowly survives a leucrotta attack) before getting back to Llorkh. Over in Upperthorn, Swift Current goes as emissary to the Bignose Goblins, and Mike contemplates his next moves to save New Ammarindar and send an expedition north into the ruins of Orlbar.

Artvirous leads Caradoc, MikMek, and Bariq to destroy the bullywug village but they get taken before King Lenny who declares that Arty is his long-lost son and possible heir. Prince Bodean goads Arty into swimming down into a froghemoth lair, where Arty and Bariq get swallowed whole and MikMek and Caradoc get captured by its tentacles. By the end, Caradoc and Arty are dead but Bariq, barely brought back from the brink by MikMek, revivifies Arty. Stephen II, Caradoc's Steel Defender, runs away with Caradoc's body while Arty and Bodean get into a frog-wrasslin' match. Mikmek agrees to get changed into a bullywug but the ceremony goes sideways and he ends up with a couple of mutations instead, but still gets a bullywug mate. Arty and the remaining crew then explore a nearby tomb, where some treasure is found including a magical sword that is not as full of hate as the last one was.

Sir Parrik leads Bariq, Caradoc, and Arty to deal with a cursed place centered on a standing stone near his domain of Lowerthorn. They demolish the menhir only to find that the effect persists - digging down they discover that there is a malevolent sword there thirsty for blood and looking for a new wielder. Bariq tries to Identify the sword but falls prey to it and tries to murder his friends! They try to restrain him while Arty tries to get the sword safely away to the Dead Magic Zone about thirty miles away.

Kain leads Neville, Rustle, and new arcane cleric Cassius on a hunt for the assassins who nearly killed Jahan at the Miners Cooperative warehouse a few weeks ago. They talk to a reporter, get denied entrance to a gambling hall, give a poison sample to an herbalist, and hatch a plot to bring the assailants out into the open. This results in a chaotic street battle, and the party leaves town for a few days to get Jahan to safety. The plan changes slightly and the Black Cats take over Jahan's security, while the party heads back to find the gang known as the Green Daggers. In the Green Dagger hideout, Kain gets drained by a stirge, Neville has a memory of a former self, Rustle kills some dogs, Cassius springs a trap, and a hostage situation ends in bloodshed. The party retreats and the gang's leaders escape... for now!