The Roster:

• Xrith'atiril
• Jacob
• Josalyn
• Briiz
• Lusia
• Sapphira
• Jedor
• Lygan
• Phineas
• Ptolemy

The group is planning on following the treasure map to the south east, through a vast forest called The Hollow. We will travel out from Iway and across part of the Badlands to the south.

Rations will need to be used for feed and for us. We anticipate 4 weeks of travel. Everyone is human.

Xrith hires:

• 2 x Shortbow Archers 4 gp/day. Leather Armor, Shortbow, Shortsword.

Lusia and Jacob hired mercenaries.

• 5 Light Horsemen - 15 gp/day - Studded Leather, Shield, Light Crossbow, Pick
• 3 Hobillars - Padded, Shield, Spear, Club
• 5 Medium Horsemen

The treasure maps path goes from Mombafra and leads to the south east from there. No roads.

Xrith's armor is fully repaired.

11/03 - We set out from Mombafra. 6 movement points per day.

Travel across rolling hills. Weather is clear. It is winter time.

Camping. Xrith takes a midnight watch. He will make use of his infravision outside of campfire. He will also have his two shortbowmen.

Lusia is wearing leather armor on odd nights. Jacob wears Elven Chain on his nights.

• 1st watch: Josalyn, Jedor, Lygan. 2 M Horsemen 1 Light Horseman
• 2nd watch: Lusia, Sapphira, Xrith. 2 M Horsemen, 2 Shortbow Archers. 1 Light Horseman
• 3rd watxh: Jacob, Phineas, Ptolemy, Briiz. 1 M Horsemen. 1 Light Horseman

Uneventful evening

11/04

Weather is still clear. Plains Hex. Series of rocky slopes, we can see a small object jutting out. Wild looking. There is something small and made of stone and is not moving. Jacob is flying the whole time during our travels.

The object is fairly exposed. Jacob flies over it. He sees that thee is a lot of rubble on the hill. When he flies over it, that piece of stone is intentionally crafted, like a small statue. In the undergrowth, he sees a couple of flickers of metal.

Xrith starts riding over with the group. There is a rusted sword, shield, stone rubble and a long time ago there were buildings, cobblestones. Reduced to rocks. We spot other refuse, old leather and bones, big as dog sized animals around the old weaponry. This area stretches out for the entirety of the hill. At the top of the hill is some kind of stone statue or idol 2' long, 1/2' wide.

Lygan and Xrith will ride up to check it out. We climb up to the top of it. From where we are standing, we can see that it is an old site with ruins. The idol looks relgious, part of an altar at one point. Half buried beneath the ground, like a totem pole style. Like an avian type creature. Feathers are depicted on the side. Besides all the vines on the hills, all the stones are covered in moss. The sunlight catches a lot of metal on the hill.

We are not surprised.

From the top of the hill, 14“ away to the north west we see some things moving around, we can see two metal looking things moving around in the ground. They are long like snakes. 15' long. Skin appears to be metallic and they sway back and forth. They are silently moving across the rubble.

• Lygan looks at Xrith.
• Xrith falls back to the rest of the group.

We had surprise on them so we are able to leave.

The next hex is plains and then we reach the forest. It costs 3 points to move into the forest. We can see the next hexes from the air (with Jacob and his hippogriff). Southeast is hills, northeast is plains, and we went into the plains. South of that is heavy forest. north of the elf bridges.

North east of the heavy forest is more heavy forest, south more heavy forest, southeast is more heavy forest.

Jacob can see that about 3 miles into the hex, there is what appears to be a small stone construction. The size of it is like a cloister or temple. This is in our current forest hex.

We will approach the cloister. We find that it is cloister that was constructed as a religious outpost for Geos. No flags or horses outside. No sign of occupation.

The construction is not a ruin and not in disappear. We see a double wooden door as the entrance and Josalyn casts Find Traps. There are no traps. Jacob knocks on the door, there is no reply.

We go inside. Inside, we find an entranceway with two long hallways. There is a window facing an inner garden, this surrounds a central open air area. Everything is dust covered. There is a marking on the ground that shows where a rug once lied.

We search it using a final movement.

Not Surprised!

We search through the halls of the cloister, in the midst we come across a group of 8 Huge Spiders. The group is inside one of the chambers, it is 40' x 50'. There is a door with an open hallway. We just moved in through the door and spotted the spiders instantly!

• Xrith falls back.
• Jacob and Josalyn make a tactical retreat.
• Briiz can fire.
• Lusia gets out of the room.
• Lygan gets out of the room.
• Ptolemy will cast Sleep.
• Sapphira will stay with Ptolemy.
• Jedor stays out.
• Phineas is getting back.

We lose the initiative. The Huge Spiders are charging at 1.8” per segment. The party shuffles back into the hallway.

They can get to the front line.

Briiz can shoot 1 shot and misses terribly.

They are attacking Xrith, Jacob and Josalyn. AC 7

Jacob hits for 14, Xrith hits for 6, Josalyn hits for 7.

There are 7 left. They are attacking mostly Josalyn, 1 on Xrith.

Xrith is missed by a Huge Spider. 2 attacks on Jacob, both miss. 4 attacks on Josalyn, 1 hit for 2 damage. Save Versus Poison at +1, She saves! Another attack on her misses.

Sapphira hits for 2 damage, Phineas hits for 6.

Sleep goes off and 3 of them fall asleep. That leaves 4 left alive. Jacob hits again for 10 damage. This kills another one.

• Jedor and Lygan enter melee.
• Everyone else in melee stays in melee.
• Lusia moves to engage.

Next round.

• Briiz and Ptolemy are out of melee.
• Lygan attacks.
• Phineas attacks.
• Ptolemy gives emotional support.
• Jedor and Sapphira attack.
• Xrith attacks.
• Jacob and Josalyn attack.
• Briiz moves silently.
• Lusia attacks.

We lose the initiative. These have animal intelligence so they do check for morale. The spiders flee in panic!

Jacob does 17, Xrith does 5, Josalyn does 6 and 8, Jedor hits for 5, Lygan hit for 4, Lusia hits for 4.

All of them are dispatched!

We complete the search of the cloister and can roll for Lair Treasure of the huge spiders.

• 109 cp.
• 77 sp.
• 49 gp.
• 48 pp.
• No gems.

This place seems to be abandoned intentionally. There are no books or anything left over. It was abandoned sometime in the last 50 years.

The stone buildings on the hill were at least as old as Delbo.

Xrith searches for anything that sounds hollow and Phineas looks for evidence of why they left. No signs of an attack. No secret doors found. The night goes by without incident.

11/05

We continue our travel, going into another forest hex.

Clear weather.

Not surprised.

Distance of encounter is 7“ away. It is quite dark in the forest despite the daytime. We are traveling along when we spot some movement in the trees up ahead. We can see 5 humanoid figures, as though in hunt like a panther. They have monstrous faces and are covered in fur.

• Lusia casts Dust Devil.
• Lygan knocks an arrow.
• Phineas casts Hold Person.
• Ptolemy casts Sleep.
• Sapphira orders her hobillars to dismount. She draws her shield and sword.
• Jedor orders the horsemen to ready their crossbows.
• Xrith fires an arrow.
• Shortbowmen will fire.
• Jacob nocks an arrow.

Tied initiative.

5 segments for Hold Person. Dust Devil takes 3 rounds to cast.

The humanoid figures leap out from behind the trees and charge at us on all fours. They have heads of boars. Xrith and his shortbowmen miss.

They are at a distance of 5.4”.

AC 5

Xrith hits with a silver arrow doing 5 damage.

Sleep spell has no effect.

They engage after 4 segments and meet us in combat before Hold Person.

We get our weapon attacks first this round.

Jacob cannot see the party from his position.

2 on Xrith and Lygan, both on Xrith. 1 hit on Xrith, for 7 damage (1 absorbed). They go for both the men at arms, AC 7/7 2 attacks. Both hit. Hobbilar takes 6 and the other 5. 2 Hobillars are killed!

1 charges into Josalyn and Briiz group. Josalyn hits for 10 and 8 damage. Horsemen cannot damage them. Sapphira misses. Medium horsemen have AC 3, they are hit! One takes 3 damage.

• Jacob dives, Josalyn attacks, Everyone else disengages.
• Lusia casts prayer.
• Lygan attacks.
• Phineas will charge with Sapphira.
• Ptolemy stays away.
• Xrith attacks with shield and sword.
• Sapphira and Jedor attack.

We win the initiative.

These are Lycanthropes (Were-Boars). Prayer goes off on segment 8.

Jacob only gets 14.4“ .

Xrith hits for 13 damage. Josalyn does 7 damage. Sapphira does 6 damage.

None of them are down yet. They will attack now.

2 against Xrith. Hit on 17s, both miss. They are Neutral aligned so no Protection from Evil. 2 on the men at arms, another Hobillar is dead!

Sapphira is missed! Attack on the horsemen, takes 10 damage. He is dead.

Everyone's horse must check against fear. Horses cannot hit. Only one of the Jedor's horses panicked.

Jacob will meet his dive. 1 hit from dive, 4 damage and then 8 damage, he kills the one on Josalyn!

Prayer goes off with a radius of 6”. We are all now affected by the Prayer!

• Lusia casts Light.
• Lygan attacks.
• Phineas holds
• Ptolemy holds.
• Sapphira attacks.
• Jedor orders his remaining men to move.
• Xrith orders his shortbowmen to fall back and attacks.
• Jacob engages with the one on Sapphira.

We win initiative!

Sapphira hits for 6 damage. Xrith hits for 14. Lygan hits for 5.

One is dead in Sapphira's group.

They attack. 2 on Xrith, they both miss! 1 on Sapphira, it hits for 9 damage. The Light spell goes off on one of the boarmen with Xrith, he fails his save and is blinded for 12 turns!

• Xrith attacks the one that is not blind.

Xrith hits for 8, Sapphira hits for 7. Lygan hits for 7 also, this kills one! Jacob and Josalyn kill one.

There is one blind Were-Boar left.

We kill all 5 of them!

Jacob offers one of the horsemen some Belladonna. 25% chance that it works to stem lycanthropy. 1% chance to kill them, it doesnt kill them. The Belladonna works!

This horsemen gains a +50 loyalty bonus toward Jacob!

Xrith is healed fully and there are no items on their bodies.

Jacob will continue flying as he scouts the adjacent hexes.

We are headed south east through more heavy forest. This uses up our points for the day. To the north east is medium forest. The south is heavy forest.

Rest of the day is uneventful.

We are two hexes from the Tomb of Pha'mir'al.

Camping in the forest goes by without incident.

11/06

We are moving into the plains which costs 1 point, south of the plain is the Tomb and to the north east is heavy forest. 3 points to enter and we have 2 left. Up ahead is medium forest. North east is more medium forest as is south east.

Around the medium forest is heavy forest south west. South of the Tomb is more heavy forest. We are south east of the tomb. To the south is a mesa.

As we travel through the forest, Jacob can see streams of smoke up ahead, from many fires.

Jacob scouts ahead and finds that it comes from the roofs of buildings. It is in the current hex.

We arrive at a Hamlet.

The houses are built on platforms and there are rope bridges. Some are more private. Most have stilts and some are on higher ground. As we enter we see mostly humans but there are a lot of elves, maybe a dwarf or two.

GEFRIS is the name of the hamlet. The people do not mind, they welcome travelers and we can patronize the tavern. We find a place to stay.

There are 240 people here, mostly hunters. This area floods frequently. There is a village to the south called MIPIN.

They say that Mipin is a trading partner and a friendly place to stop. Their homes are built into the side of mesas and hidden from view.

They know of the Cloister of Geos. It was once occupied by low level clerics, and they departed due to wars in the area between Berserkers and Orcs. They had an alliance with the Wood Elves but they lost their protection.

They are not any atypical monster populations but sometimes they get mixes of monsters from neighboring ecologies. Sometimes forest monsters show up in the badlands. They say that this place is far off from the 6 cities, it is a frontier. We might stumble upon ruins with unknown dangers from ages past. They do not know of any major monster populations.

There are other Elf tribes to the east that they work with. The Boldbrow Berserkers they know of but they are not fond of them because they left it in disarray.

We go to the tavern, drink and seek rumors. Sapphira hears a rumor.

To the north, about 20 miles away, northeast in the forest. There is a tribe of Xvarts. They take their riverboats south of Gefris and perform raids on their hunters. They will pay a reward if we go to their encampment and destroy their boats and docks. They have seen that one of the Xvarts rides a Mammoth

We rest here and buy drinks.

11/07

We are now entering the southern badlands. The main political considerations are that this is where Barbarian tribes can be found.

• Ukhatu tribe in the north.
• Anakawa in the west.
• Noshobo in the south.

Religious people, called the People of the Rock, have a presence in the Badlands.

Ukhatu Tribe (North)- Anakwa Tribe (West)- Nashoba Tribe (South)

Jacob spots from his Hippogriff, he can see a settlement in the canyon area. He doesnt see buildings but he sees large stones rolled in front of doorways. Windows carved into the side of the mesas.

There are 3 times as many people as Gefris. There are large herds of Bison.

We are checking the adjacent hexes.

We south into more mesas, uses 2 points. Another south trip into the Badlands. As we are travelling through, Jacob spots a structure that looks like a stepped pyramidial building on a slope. Big enough for a palace or something, but not a castle.

Badlands are considered a rough terrain hex. The pyramid looks old. Stepped pyramids are typically constructed historically by dwarven construction. Halflings have also built them.

* COME BACK HERE *

Night goes by without incident.

11/08

We travel 1 point into badlands plains. Low grasses. 3 points into plains. 6 hexes in a row into plains.

REVISED!

We are in a badlands hex.

Mesas, badlands, plains, badlands, plains, badlands.

Night goes by without incident.

11/09

Cloudy on day 7. We are going into plains, plains, badlands, then mesas.

Tomorrow we will travel into the mountains. Around the mountains is south more mountains, south east is plains, south west is a medium forest.

Night goes by without incident.

11/10

Weather is still cloudy. We try to skirt around the mountains into the plains. Go off the course of the map and end up at the mountains again.

We see mountains to the south west. We go south. We have made it into the badlands, with 4 movement points. More hills to the south. We are back on the map path. We got lost slightly for 1 movement point.

No incidents.

11/11

Still cloudy. We go through some plains.

Jacob is surprised for 1 segment.

We are traveling through the badlands and Jacob notices a huge caravan of humanoids to the north west. They are traveling perpendicular and look like Humans and Demi-Humans.

We approach them to parley. Xrith approaches them and they receive us positively. They will be selling one rare item.

Several balls of pocket lint 10 gp.

They sell a magic sword that can kill magic using creatures. Jacob wants to buy it. It is a magic falchion +1, +2 versus magic using creatures.

We leave and go into a wastelands hex. then badlands.

No incidents.

11/12

The weather clears up and stays clear. We head through scrubland, badlands, scrublands, scrublands.

Jacob can see that much of this area is a great canyon. There are several streams of smoke coming from the canyon. Jacob looks and sees a permanent encampment with tents. This looks like a Barbarian encampment. Seems like there are 200 people living there.

The next hex up front is hills.

Risten puts on some banded mail to disguise himself.

Sapphira can make a reaction roll with +20. She gets a great reception. Introduction goes extremely well. They will have us meet for the evening.

They are the Kahhed Clan of Barbarians. We exchange greetings and we notice over time that women do not talk at all. This contridicts the last tribe we encountered. There are children around. All the children are playing but the female children do not make noise.

They seem like they take a ping of unusualness with Sapphira and Lusia speaking to them, who are both women. They look for religious symbols. There are some deities, but not lawful deities. It does Xrith will ask for news of the area, monster encounters and such.

Xrith hears that there is some Bandit activity in the area that they are warring with now. They dont have a lot of warriors. They rely on other clans to take care of it. They were going to contact the Clan of the Coil to send troops.

They dont know where their lair is, could be hiding in the mesas to the south east. Been attacked by groups in the 30s.

We are in hex 37 / 68 for travel purposes.

The Bandits are not considered an immediate threat. They have 100 warriors in the Barbarian tribe. They think there is at least 100 bandits.

We camped with the Barbarians. We found that the belief of the tribe is that women do not speak because every word they speak weakens their singing voice. None of them talk normally.

There are exactly 25 of us.

11/13

The weather is cloudy and stays cloudy. We move 2 points into the mesas. We come face to face with a mountain hex. Adjacent hexes are southwest is mesas, south is a marsh, south east is mountains, north east is badlands.

We go into the badlands to the north east. Trying to go south east around the mountains but there is more marshlands.

We will back to the badlands. We camp south east of the Barbarian clans.

Night passes with no incident.

11/14

Going into the mountains to the south with 4 movement points. Weather clears up and it is clear. Mountain travel, then we travel into the mesas.

Jacob is not surprised. He sees a herd of wild horses up ahead. Jacob's Hippogriff grabs a small horse and then it can feed.

There is a light forest up ahead.

No incidents.

11/15

It is raining, hard rain. We only have 3 movement points. Light forest is 1 movement point. Light Forest for 3 hexes.

We are surprised and so are they! We stumble upon each other. Distance is 7 inches. Terrain is fairly open, with trees that are not dense.

We stumble upon a small contingent. 25 Hobgoblins wielding tridents and a Human in dark plate armor that is riding on a steed. He has behind him a horse that is chained up that is in duress. It is being dragged and is not in good care. It has a beautiful silver mane and black fur. There is also a Troll draped in chains. The same Hobgoblins are bearing the tridents. The Troll has on its back, a big chest. Like a porter. Looks to be in duress. The Troll has a big lock on the chains and would still be stuck in the chains.

We are slightly more surprised than them. The man in the black plate raises a morningstar and shouts in a language.

The Hobgoblins charge.

They will travel 1.8“ bringing them to 5”.

• Briiz will charge.
• Horsemen will charge.
• Josalyn will charge.
• Jacob is diving.
• Lusia casts Prayer.
• Lygan charges.
• Phineas charges.
• Ptolemy casts Sleep.
• Sapphira will charge.
• Jedor gets the crossbowmen to fire.
• Xrith orders his shortbowmen to fire and Xrith charges with his lance.

Orcs charge an throw Javelins in the DMG but we dont use that rule.

We lose the intiative.

Prayer will go off next round. Sleep will go off on segment 7.

There are 25 Hobgoblins but the Troll is left behind. It doesnt try to escape, maybe because it is weakened. It is the same with the horse.

Their group charge our first group, Lygan and Xrith.

3 on Lygan, he is hit twice for 7 total damage. 5 on Xrith, AC -5 against Tridents. Only hit on a 20. No hits!

Sapphira is in front with 5 and 4 charge past to Lusia.

5 on Sapphira, only hit on a 17. 1 hit for 6 damage. 4 on Lusia all of them miss.

8 charge into Josalyn and Briiz.

Xrith hit for 8, Lygan hit for 8 this kills one. Sapphira hit for 2.

5 on the Horsemen. AC 3/3, 5 damage and 2 damage from 2 hits. 1 is killed! Not the one that was cured. 3 on Briiz. 1 hits for 6 damage.

Counter attack, 9 from Josalyn and Briiz misses. Phineas hits for 6 damage. Lusias Horseman hit for 6.

The Leader goes after Sapphira. Bringing his Morningstar down on her. AC 2 for her, hit on an 11. She is hit for 5 damage.

The Leader has AC 2/2. Jacob dived at him with the Hippogriff. He did 2 and 6 damage against the leader. he hits for another 8 damage.

Sleep spell is canceled.

• All of us are attacking in melee.
• Ptolemy just hangs out.
• Jedor orders them to switch to pick

We win initative.

Prayer goes off.

Jacob kills the leader. Josalyn hits for 6, Briiz hits for 9. Lusia hits for 4. Xrith hits for 7. Lygan hit for 7. One of the guys on the right group hits for 3. Sapphira hits a Hobgoblin for 3 damage and then 6 damage. Lusia's Horsemen hits for 7.

The Platemail leader is down. The Hobgoblins are getting killed.

3 on Xrith, all missed. 2 on Lygan, one hits for 7 damage.

Sapphira is missed. All are attacking Jedor's troops. AC 6/6 one hits a Horseman for 6 damage, which kills him.

Josalyn is missed, Phineas is missed, Horsemen have AC 3/3 they are missed.

• Melee attacks.
• Phineas casts Hold Person.
• Lusia wants to charge the Troll.

We win the initiative.

Xrith hits for 4, Josalyn hits for 7 and 8, Briiz hits for 12. Horseman hit for 3 and 4.

Morale check for the Hobgoblins. They are fleeing in panic after dropping their tridents.

Josalyn hits for 8 and 5, dead. Briiz hits for 5. Xrith hits for 5, Lygan missed.

4 of them escaped.

Lusia is crushing the Troll.

We captured 1 Hobgoblin! The leader was a Human. The Troll is still chained up in the back. It looks like its slowly understanding the situation. Having trouble counting. Still carrying the chest on its back. The Black silvermaned horse is becoming restless. It is not more than 15 feet from the Troll.