• Stevie - Human Fighter 1, AC 3/5 MED Shield, MV 6“, Doors 1-3, Listen 1-2, 17,12,16,16,15,18, hp 6, AL LN of Anaera, Shortsword of Quickness +2.
• Risten - Magic-User 6, LG
• Eomiaje - Ranger 2 / Thief 3, NG, +
• Ragnar - Ranger 4, LG,
• Yohan - Ranger 5 - LG, Rook
• Phineas - Cleric 3, Mote
• Lucien Bellareave - Illusionist 1 AC 0/3, MV 12”, Doors 1-2, Listen 1-2, 12,15,11,17,15,13, hp 5, AL CG, is a trickster.

• Ragnar received Elven Chain +2 from Jacob in exchange for a Ring of Invisibility.
• Voltendo is training until 8th of Pilgrim Moon.
• Stevie the Fighter will be joining us.
• Fulmok is retired and gave Stevie the Sword of Quickness +2

We are starting on the 18th in Maelc.

Maelc has a high population of Dwarves due to proximity to Yaga-Kel. We are headed to Reir'al that once held a 1000 Elves. The Rangers had a few different interests in the area and the Whirlrender had lead us to this place.

Currently the weather is raining, heavy rain.

We wait out the heavy rain to end.

Stevie buys rations. Loren gets 25 gp to buy a Riding Horse. We do not have any Hippogriff riders.

We set out and check out some unexplored hexes, exploring from explored hexes into the unexplored ones.

We come to the edge of a small lake and will have to go around so we go south and then head south west. We continue to the south west and end our journey about half way. We are inside the Sea of Grass.

The night is uneventful but it starts rain heavily.

There is heavy rain this morning and we continue on through the rain.

We are not surprised.

The encounter distance is 10“ away. We are about 1 hex away from the lake of Heshib, we are travelling through thick grasses and hear the loud call of Cattle. We try to avoid the Cattle and make it, they do not pursue.

We continue on and make it to the edge of the lake near Heshib. The rain has now become light rain and the night goes by without incident.

We head on to Reir'al the next day which is clear weather. We make it to Reir'al without incident and attempt to approach it from the north side.

Each hex is 600 feet and there are 5 towers, 3 stories tall made of granite. They are intracately carved and have a ground entrance. There is an Obelisk that we stayed in where we fought some Werewolves. It is not completed and there is a 3rd floor with a top entrance.

In the center of the Ruins is a large building, like a Great Hall, that is built right next to a Plaza made of ruined stones of various colors. There is a grove of wild apple trees filled with wild pigs. We found a hidden entrance to the lair of the Red Wode just south of the Grove.

Looking down into the expanse of the town, we see rabbits and birds. It looks like we are near Tower C, which has some vines crawling up its sides and looks fairly ruined.

The requirements of the Ranger Quest.

• Map to Reir'al and a map of the city
• Defeat some beasts inside the city.
• Find a spell component from the age when the city was built.

We head toward Tower C and see that the front door is partially collapsed and looks precarious. The door is broken in half. Half the door is hanging off a ledge. The entire floor inside is missing and all of the levels above have collapsed with huge chunks of stone breaking down into a basement. It would take some pack animals and men several days to clear. There are some remnants of wooden furniture, very damaged and not valuable. The inside looks dusty and water damaged.

The Rangers look for tracks outside of the tower. Yohan finds some Boar tracks here sometime in the last week, no more than a week ago. Eomiaje finds tracks of several dogs in a pack coming from the north east to the south west.

Phineas searches the tower behind the vines while Ragnar finds week old tracks of a solitary Goat. Phineas finds that the vines are coming from plants at the base of the tower, they are not unnatural. They are not concealing anything. The only decoration is at the top 3rd.

We would have to excavate the basement to get inside.

The party continues on to the temple. It is a one story building with columns on all sides. It is nice looking and condensed compared to the large building. There are front double doors that look like double doors and some steps going up to the rear door on the backside of the Temple. The ceiling has a big stone dome.

We approach the rear door and do not find any tracks leading to the back door. The door is locked.

Eomiaje takes off his armor, fails to pick the lock and then puts his armor back on.

Our characters are standing around the rear door of the Temple of Cine. The lanscape has ruined buildings around it but they are not as compact. Everyone is keeping watch while Eomiaje puts on his armor, he is about halfway when Yohan sees a humanoid form moving.

He saw a mane of black and long arms with vicious claws.

• Yohan forms up a front line.
• Eomiaje keeps putting on his armor.
• Stevie stands with Yohan.
• Ragnar joins the front line.
• Risten sees the creature move behind the wall. He stays behind the line.
• Phineas stands his ground.
• Lucien hangs back.

We see what could be a Troll.

It gets 5 segments. Just as Yohan points out the stone. The source of the roar is a very large Troll running at us! Its spit is flying from its mouth. It is charging at 1.5” per segment. It can get to us first.

It attacks a random person. Phineas is being attacked. It attacks with a claw and a bite. One of the claws hits and he takes 7 damage!

Eomiaje had 6 of 11

• Ragnar attacks.
• Risten casts Magic Missile
• Stevie lights a torch.
• Yohan attacks.
• Eomiaje puts on his armor.
• Phineas casts Sanctuary.

It takes 4 segments to cast Sanctuary and we have tied initiative.

Yohan and Ragnar attack and must his AC 4. Ragnar hits for 10 damage and Yohan hit for 12 damage. Ragnar has AC 2 and the Troll misses him entirely!

Magic Missile goes off and does 13 damage, the Troll looks heavily wounded. Stevie has a torch lit. Eomiaje has 7/11ths of his armor put on.

• Yohan attacks.
• Stevie charges with her shortsword.
• Risten casts Magic Missile.
• Phineas stays in melee with Sanctuary.
• Lucien helps Eomiaje.

Yohan hits for 14 and cuts down the Troll. The Magic Missile fizzles out and Stevie applies the torch to the Troll. The black hair ignites and the body of the Troll boils and melts.

Phineas took some damage. He heals himself for 2 damage using Cure Light Wounds.

The 3 Rangers roll to track the Troll. The tracks came from the location where we entered the ruins.

Find Traps is cast on the doors but there are no traps. We follow the tracks north through the Sea of Grass. After about a mile and a half, the landscape becomes more swamp like. It looks rough and is similar to the area of the banshee. It goes into the swampy area but we dont see anything other than tracks going into the swampy area. Ragnar is invisilble and tracking on his own ahead of us. This is a small portion of this area that is swampy.

Loren makes an off hand remark about the swamp.

We set up camp and it starts to rain in the evening, heavy rain. Nothing comes for us in the morning.

It is still heavily raining the next day and we head to the place where we entered the ruins. Stevie keeps a lookout in the air. Risten casts Invisibility on himself. We get to the front double doors of the temple.

It looks like the floor is cracked from many visitors over the ages. There is an altar at the far end of the temple and a stone dome in the ceiling. The walls are lined with antique pictures of Elves that have been exposed to the element. We are underneath a large balcony, a mezanine, over the pews of the altar.

There are no stained glass windows and the Temple looks fortified, which is different than usual. There is some illumination from arrow slit windows so there is some light in here.

For light, we have magic swords, Continual Light on Yohan, and Whirlrender. As he shows Whirlrender the scene…

As Yohan steps close to the edge of the mezanine, he senses a movement in the air above him. Something has just shifted above. Stevie moves back to the door.

• Yohan braces for a charge.
• Stevie gets back.
• Ragnar gets to the edge of the mezanine.
• Risten gets to the side of the wall and gets a better look.
• Phineas stays back.
• Lucien stays back.
• Eomiaje forms up with Yohan.

Risten goes forward to get a look. We hear a booming voice from above, a powerful femanine voice. “Is that you and your ilk Xel-Kir? Have you come to meet your end.” Risten reveals himself to the creature, breaking invisibility. The voice does not appear surprised that Risten was standing there. She raises her eyes to him. “Announce yourselves to me if you mean no harm.”

We introduce ourselves to the person. Yohan steps out from underneath the mezanine. Eomiaje uses the Rod of Alertness to detect lies, evil and magic. Others stay under the mezanine.

We see a pair of copper scaled hands appear, we see a full sized adult Copper Dragon. The Dragon acknowledges us and sees the Rod held by Eomiaje and asks why we have it. Eomiaje puts it away.

Risten told the Copper Dragon of Maervahr and she has heard of Maervahr. The Dragon's visage calms a bit and she may believe us. We know many names that are friends and not enemies. Since we find us in her home and believes us, she will not obliterate us. She peers down at us from the corners of her eyes.

Risten says “We are honored to be in your presence.” Her name is Ahek'slyn and has presided over these ruins for 3 decades now. She has now qualm with us unless we destroy the building. Perhaps we could form an allyship. This Dwarf Xel-Kir and his allies have been poking around the ruins. Recently something has changed. Ahek'slyn believes the group is loitering because they are allied with a young White Dragon, that she would obliterate when the time is right.

The situation is less than ideal. The allies she has with those in the ruins are not readily available. If we explore in peace and take what we might find. How capable are you of dealing with them? The Druid is no concern to her. She believes his command over animal is due to a Ring of Animal Control. The Druid follows the other warriors that he is inexperienced. He has no animal allies. Sometimes he is not wearing it. The Ring is possibly shared.

We ask her if she knows entrances to the ruins that they might not know about. She does. Yes, though first we should discuss arrangements for the outcome if we succeed. The Dragon may have items in its possession, if an arrangement is made, she will keep a lookout over the city, if we are chased, she will take care of it. She will not accompany us underground. One entrance to the White Dragon's lair is through the Grove. We can find it because the pigs like to crowd around the entrance.

That will take us to the dungeon below which is an old Elven basement. There is another entrance concealed inside the tower where the party of Xel-Kir is residing.

Does she know the White Dragon's name and has it been here a while? She says she doesnt know its name and it has not sought to treatise with her. Her sense of smell and judging of her scales and wing. It is the offspring of Vyrm'thael which from the mountains to the north.

She knows Ras'akeel and they have mutual respect but they do not see eye to eye. They can see the entrance from the tower E, the entrance of the Grove. She spotted the party when they arrived and slew three of their number. It was once 12 in number but now they are 9. She performed a weakening attack to form a war of attrition. She did not stay to fight but has seen an owl accompany them and it has tasked with observation.

Phineas asks about the towers and if they are connected underground. She does not know.

Eomiaje says we know this group and expected to fight them and Whirlrender speaks to the Dragon. Her eyes glimmer with lust as she talks to the Yohan. You should be able to complete the quest. When she first arrived, she explored them briefly. The chambers of the captain of that organization were in the halls below. The Copper Dragon does not know if the dragon is in the tower or in the dungeon beneath. There is a magically concealed trap door that would take us to an area where there is a large enough space where the Dragon may be laired. That area is certainly connected to the other entrance in the Grove.

We may use this place as a place of rest, but we must use the chamber to the north. We can rest only the northern temple. The credit belongs to her…The site at the large building was her doing, where the party was killed. Her tone has shifted and she seems proud of the killing she did. She keeps eyeing Whirlrender, she is entranced by the sword.

Phineas is back at full health after casting Cure Light Wounds on himself.

We camp inside the room of the Temple of Cine. Nothing happens in the evening.

We have rested in the back room and see that there are chairs and benches. Part of the room is concealed by a threadbare curtain. There is a marble font in the back with a silver bowl. The silver bowl looks like the sort crafted by Clerics for holy water. The font is dried up, its dusty and has not been used in a long time. The bowl itself looks valuable but we don't want to take it. A Bless spell could consecrate the font in the name of the deity and then purify water, bless and a couple days to create Holy Water from this.

Does Whirlrender recognize the paintings? Amongst the painting, it does recognize one of the Elves. One unlabeled one is Dje'fari, the founder of the Red Wode, or what he is presumed to have looked like. He is depicted as having thin black hair going about a foot below his shoulders. Wears a red and gold cloak with accents of pearls. He has a staff at his side but it is gnarled but there is a blue green gem that gives off of a glow. One hand leans against a table with a map on it. Placed on the same table is a globe of Planet Geb. Eomiaje studies the map on the table in the painting with the Copper Dragon's permission.

No water is depicted in the map, markers show a complicated conflict but he cannot make out any locations. This is hung painting.

We discuss subduing the White Dragon. We can use a subdued Dragon as a mount. Cowardice is the core feature of every Dragon, so it could be mounted even if opposite alignment. It will not do this unless it cannot be killed easily.

Endure Cold will last for 27 turns. He will cast it once we get inside the Grove dungeon.

Eomiaje thanks the Copper Dragon and we leave toward the ruined buildings in the south.

We get almost to the Grove when…

We are surprised…

Suddenly we have a dreadful feeling of being followed. We see 7 figures in ancient Elven clothing. They are lurching toward us at a slow speed. They are moving from 7“ away. They are charging toward us.

6.2” distance away…

• Ragnar takes half cover.
• Risten takes cover.
• Phineas tries to turn undead.
• Lucien gets behind cover.
• Yohan stands in front of Phineas.
• Eomiaje forms up a shield wall with Yohan.
• Stevie takes cover.

They are still 3.8“ away. Phineas must turn Zombies. 12 Zombies are turned and they are instantly repulsed! They backpedal into the ruins.

They disappear into the ruins and do not come back.

As we approach the grove, the Copper Dragon flies toward the eastern side of the city. The arrow slits are narrow. As she gets toward the south. We see the Wild Pigs in here. There are 12 of them gathered around the tree. This is the place where the air comes from the earth. It points us toward the tree. Eomiaje bribes them with rations and Whirlrender locates a staircase near a tree. The Tree is old and hardy and large. There is a breeze coming from around the tree.

Eomiaje finds on the northwestern side of the tree, there is a small door, that has become warped. It has cracked open. There is a knot that twists which reveals a spiral staircase the width of one person. The pigs say nobody has passed into this tree in 3 of our lifetimes.

Eomiaje, Ragnar, Yohan and Phineas all receive Endure Cold.

We go down a dizzying amount of time as we descend deep into cold air, past roots and earth. The summer rain continues outside.

Finally the staircase terminates in a stone panel that is about 3' on either side and has a protrusion on the right side like a handle. The door is 3' tall and the handle is made of stone. Phineas slides the door, some dust is kicked up and there is a grinding noise. The area beyond opens to a room. It is not a typical dungeon door. There is not handle on the other side.

After getting about halfway, Phineas can see a table where you can step onto the table.

To the right, there is a barrel that is rotating. When you stop, the barrel stops rotating. The barrel, an empty dusty shelf and a switch on the wall is what he sees inside.

It is a small stone toggle switch. The table is dusty. Yohan hits the toggle and the stone wall opens revealing a much large room. There are many practice dummies beyond.

The dummies are rotting or rusting, to the right is a door with shelves and chairs, all covered with dust and in bad shape. In the far end is an opening that looks like a hallway.

Eomiaje uses Detect Magic from the Rod to see if anything is magical. We do not find anything in the room and no magic on the weaponry. As we explore the room, we can see through the corridor, the place beyond is covered in nasty Centipede webbing. It is mostly thin capacity and nest like material. There is corridor that is obscured by the webbing that is 10' deep.

Stevie lights her half torch and sets fire to the Centipede nest. Eomiaje stops her and we go for the dungeon door.

We see a corridor turns to the left and find a big wooden shelf that is empty and dusty and then come to a 4 way intersection. Eomiaje takes a look at the shelf as we go further. The shelf looks empty. At the 4 way intersection, we see the same wall of Centipede webbing. Beyond the corridor we can see some large tables and chairs, at least their shadows.

To the right we see that the corridor continues to a room and another corridor to the right. Phineas tries to move the shelf and doesnt find anything behind it. Due to the long curvy staircase, we have a 4 in 5 chance to keep our bearing which direction we go.

In a chamber that is 40' x 40' is a room with tattered banners of trees with interlocking threads on a bronze field. There is a passage that goes north to an intersection and a door to the south. Past the intersection we see a door at the far side and we need to take one turn to rest. It has been one hour since we came down.

We check the south door. The door opens and find another room with 4 tables and chairs, cabinets, barrels and a fireplace. We are back in the room we were in before.

We head south and through the corridor where we see a door to the north and a room to the right. Inside this room is some loose debris, like a passage chamber. There are a couple of shelves made of mahogany that are empty and dusty. We see a hallway that ends in a door. Eomiaje finds that the shelves are empty and then we check the door.

The door opens to a room arranged into 6 beds of moderate quality. It is surpassed the test of time but are somewhat insect eaten. They are queen sized beds. There are 6 wooden footlockers. There are chests of drawers for clothes. There is a stone basin in the northwest that looks empty. The basin is for holding water. Eomiaje searches around in the beds while Whirlrender searches for the map. Eomiaje uses detect magic. No map is detected in the area by Whirlrender. He can sense some magic on the farthest footlocker to the east. Eomiaje sensed the magic flicker into being, it wavers.

We will come back for it later.

We can see when we get close that there are micro movements inside. Stevie throws a flask of oil inside after we do not find the map or any magic.

He throws the oil inside and it creates a massive conflagration.

He killed 25 Giant Centipedes.

There is a burnt pile of burnt debris. There is now only corpses.

We go north through the hallway. We find a room with one long table, shelves and bookshelves. They are mostly empty.

We see some dog sized 4 legged creatures that begin growling. There are two Blink Dogs.

• Lucien waits.
• Yohan tries to talk to them.
• Eomiaje tries to talk to them too.
• Stevie pulls out food.
• Risten stays out of the way.
• Phineas displays holy symbol of Mote.

The Blink Dogs calm down when we show them the food. They keep blinking away from the food. They are somewhat emaciated.

There are 3 objects on the bookshelves.

• Silver spined book in Elvish. Cobalt covering. The Trade and Custom of the Lake Elves of Ul'lil Lagoon
• Black spined book History of the White Meadow Conclave
• Vellum Scroll with a center rod of elm wood.

Phineas cant read it but can see the words. Each of the 5 headings are flanked by drawn trees. Acacia, Elm, Ash and Larch trees flanking. The final is flanked by Mohogany. The heading at the top of the scroll, Delegates, 1265 CE. The headings are the names of the trees. Most of the names are Elvish. 8-5% of the names are Human or Dwarf names.

Whirlrender speaks Elvish so he will look at the names. Eomiaje studies the books and Whirlrender recalls several of the names but cant recall their tales. He remembers that this is the list of Delegates for the 5 branches of the Red Wode. Their numbers have waned greatly now, but they were split into 5 branches. The Acacia for Cradlelands.

The book is about a counsel of Gray Elves, known as Sa'dris in Geb. They live in the swamplands in the North East. They lived in Setris which is supposed to lie west of our location.

The Blink Dogs are suspicious of Lucien but will follow us at a distance of Lucien.

We decide to head south…

We come into a meeting hall, surrounded by chairs and a decorative carving of trees. 8' in diameter and cirular. We hear a movement on the stone floor behind us. We cannot see anything. The Blink Dogs are sniffing at the back.

• Lucien moves back.
• Yohan starts moving toward the sound.
• Eomiaje goes up as well to block the hall.
• Ragnar blocks the hall.
• Stevie hangs in second rank.
• Risten is in the north east corner.
• Phineas is out of melee but gives support.

We advance to the hallway and can see 20' down the hall is a single Rust Monster.

It scurries to engage us.

It is flailing its tail and hungrily.

• Yohan
• Eomiaje will splash the Rust Monster with oil
• Stevie moves to engage
• Ragnar attacks with a hand axe.
• Risten will Magic Missile
• Phineas lights a torch to throw a torch to Eomiaje.
• Lucien hangs back.
• Yohan attacks with his spear.

Phineas is lighting up the torch before throwing it. The Rust Monster attacks. Yohan, Eomiaje and Ragnar are in combat. It goes for Yohan. Yohan is missed!

Ragnar misses and Yohan hits for 4 damage. Eomiaje missed with the oil, it goes out 6' and misses. It went wide. Eomiaje grabs the torch. Ristens Magic Missile goes off and does 10 damage to it.

• Ragnar attacks with a hand axe and withdraws.
• Phineas watches our back.
• Lucien casts Spook on the Rust Monster, but first he must engage.
• Yohan hits it with the stick of his spear. He tries to sick the Blink Dogs on it.
• Bling Dogs attack them!
• Eomaije fighting withdraws to the other side of the oil.
• Stevie drops a backpack with iron spikes.
• Risten casts Magic Missile.

Yohan can take a swing with a stick and does 2 damage. Each Blink Dog gets one attack. They get two rear attacks. The Blink Dogs start tearing apart the corpse.

We see old pottery, goblets and cups. There is the 8' circular carving depicting intertwining trees of mahogany, acacia, ash, etc.

Detect Magic is used. Stevie finds that the carving on the wall is moveable. Eomiaje detects a powerful magic behind the wall that is moveable.

Phineas magic detects a non-magic trap on the wall carving. There are several pockets of trap energy around its perimeter. Eomiaje searches the pots and goblets and Whirlrender does not detect any darts. The pottery is only worth a few gp each. Maybe 100 gp worth of stuff.

Yohan did detect arrows behind the wooden carving on the wall. They do not seem to be in the same area, the arrows are in the walls behind the trap. Yohan also detects several vials behind the wall. The carving is almost flush with the wall but with one eye squinted close, there are tiny things that are 1 inch in diameter behind the carving. We cannot see how far back into the wall they go. Those are not the weight bearing parts of the mount. There is a joint that accentuates by some mechanism. There is no trap components beyond the points, there is no trap farther back.

Eomiaje is not able to remove the trap. The carving is a nice wood carving.

We will tie some rope around the carving and try to pull it with some rope.

There is a horrible snapping sound and Yohan feels the weight slam. There is a terrible crack and cacophany along with some pops. Then there is some cloud of gass that eventually disperses.

On the ground is split directly in half are two pieces of the carving. There is a compartment on the wall and several pouches that we attached to the back of the carving. There are some dust or remnants from a gass. There are a couple of shelves.

• 8 vials of holy water
• 10 flasks of oil
• 3 longswords
• 3 shortswords
• 2 quivers of 20 arrows
• longbow (bad condition)
• shortbow (bad condition)
• A magic sack.

The sack contains 4 vials of holy water, 6 flasks of oil, 850 gp. Nothing sharp can go into a Bag of Holding.

• Bag of Holding TYPE II. (No Sharp Objects) - 15 pounds, 500 pounds limit, 70 cubic feet

Loot:

Silver Book- The Trade and Custom of the Lake Elves of Ul'lil Lagoon
Black Book- History of the White Meadow Conclave
Scroll- Delegates, 1265 CE
Names/list of delegates for the Redwoad 5 branches. Whirlrender remembers some of the name
12 vials of holy water
16 flasks of oil
LB
SB
2 quivers w/ 40 arrows
3 SS
3 LS
Bag of Holding type II (56%)
850 gp