• Xrith'atiril - Cythera and Rinnaneth 2x Hippogriffs, hp 20, hp 11
• Jacob - Hippogriff
• Stevie
• Beatrix
• Yohan
• Briiz
• Josalyn - Hippogriff
• Omaz
• Taranis - Human DRD1
• Selethede - Human Psionic DRD1, Has 18 CHA.

We previously looted all the items from the Basilisk Lair and Drogar was turned to stone. The party looted the basement but the second level had a couple of bags of crystals.

Yohan detects a lesser magic on the entire body of the whole sack. All four sacks are full and weigh 450 coins each. They have the color of amethysts and are bigger than gems. Like the size of big hail, they are not cut and have soft edges. They are decent sized sacks. They are light for their size.

• 4 sacks of crystals.

We depart and return to base camp.

We have four Balistae and lots of Men-at-arms back at the camp we set up at the center of Jacob's Domain.

We still have 1/3rd of the day left. We are not going back to town. Stevie tries out the crossbow. Stevie the Fighter tests the Heavy Crossbow with a Heavy Bolt. She fires at a portion of the palisade but does not notice anything different. Firing it, there is no special difference.

She then decides to fire at Yohan. When the bolt misses, it flies past Yohan, but we noticed that it flies twice as far as it would normally fly. It is at least a +1, beyond the distance.

Kheskhor casts identify on the crystals. The crystals can be poured and combined with a potion to augment a potion.

We are introduced to Taranis.

Uuto is taken out of the marching order and goes to recover.

We head out to the south west and find a pond.

• Sea of Grass
• Hills
• Mountains
• Sea of Grass
• Hills
• Plains
• Sea of Grass
• Pond - Possible Encounter

The Hippogriff Riders are surprised. Actually we are NOT! We have two Hawks that will negate surprise.

We are alerted to a party on the shore of the pond where there is a lot of foliage and undergrowth. We see about 250 men, probably decades more. They are on Riding Mounts and have a few Warhorses. They fly a banner with an ivory color and a brown border. These are the colors of Neutrality.

We avoid them for now and head back to the camp.

Stevie rides out to parley with the Humans at the pond. They have wagons and carts attached. She is well received and finds an independent Merchant caravan. They are devotees of Nefer and have a few Clerics among them. They are from the south east. They have some things for sale. There are 220 total.

Jacob invites them to stay at his camp. They accept that offer. They have 3 common and 2 uncommon goods.

• Leatherworking goods.
• Furs
• Tools
• Brandy
• Inhaled powder from the north west, like a mix of stimulant, stronger than coffee and tobacco. It is made by Giants. It is called Grin Powder.

The grin powder is 7 gp a dose. It is of negligible weight. Xrith buys 3 doses.

Beatrix must make a Move Silently roll. We notice that one of the Merchants wearing brighter colored clothing, tries to have a private conversation with Beatrix. Stevie tries to listen in on the conversation. The Merchant wears green and yellow and wears a turban and begins to have a private conversation with Beatrix.

The Merchants were coming from the south east and headed to the north west.

That evening Xrith tries a dose of the Grin Powder, he is very focused and his ability to focus begins to wane.

Jacob lends Omaz the Ring of Regeneration which heals him for 6 hp.

We set out from the camp.

• Sea of Grass - Possible encounter.

The Hippogriff Riders are not surprised.

We spot a party of Large Spiders. They are about the size of Dogs and we can see them from the air, moving from the tops of three trees in the Sea of Grass. The area is not large and the trees are not very large though they are covered in webbing. We can only see two Spiders on the surface. They are 3x the normal distance…actually they are 15“ away.

The Spiders are completely surprised. They have AC 8.

Xrith hits for 5 and 5 damage, Jacob does 1, 5, 3 and 2 damage. Three of them are dead with our volleys!

The other party sees that our airborne party starts shooting into a web covered cluster of trees.

• Yohan leaves the area to avoid.
• Beatrix takes two shots. Actually she avoids.
• Everyone avoids.

The ground party is disengaging as the Hippogriff Riders destroy the rest of the Spiders.

We fly down and begin searching the webs. We do not burn them but we find…

• 44 pp
• 56 gp
• 95 ep
• 135 sp

The silver and copper go to the Men-At-Arms.

Beatrix harvested one dose of Large Spider poison. Kheskhor casts Invisibility on himself and on Selethade.

We continue on.

• Sea of Grass
• Sea of Grass
• Sea of Grass
• Sea of Grass
• Sea of Grass
• Sea of Grass
• Hills
• Sea of Grass - Possible Encounter

If possible, we are surprised, though we do have Sabre the Hawk which should negate the surprise.

The Hawk alerts us to a traveling group of 1/3 mounted humanoids wearing white capes and white outfits and turbans from the south. They have no carts but have seven wagons. A total of 70 of them that are traveling quite slowly.

Jacob goes back to notify the party and Stevie will go and approach.

They have with them, additionally four Camels that have a copper color to them, like copper coins. They are Pilgrims and Travelers but have no religious symbols. They are traveling north to the mountains to capture Goats and sell these Dromedarys. These Camels have been blessed by Tralf and have been blessed to provide incredible wealth, whether travel or mercantile.

These Dromedary do not go for coin but our promised to a Noble in High Dell. They would not part with them for mere coin.

Xrith whispers to Yohan to find out if they are lying. THEY ARE LYING! He sees that we are eyeing the Camel closely and must have some compensation for it. They will exchange the coin for some yellow clovers that grow in a hollow north east of here. Thse are Suntouched Clovers that only grow here and have a bad habit of growing on noxious moss that is hazardous to the Camels. Still, Yohan detects lies from the Merchants.

They give us individuals parchment papers where they are staying in High Dell. They are selling the Camels to MONLIK, a teenage son of a political figure in High Dell. He has a coming of age ceremony where they must collect foreign things and are desirous of these Luck Bringing Dromedarys.

We continue on…

• Sea of Grass
• Sea of Grass
• Sea of Grass
• Sea of Grass - We rest here and have lunch.
• Marshland
• Marshland - Possible Encounter

The Hippogriff Riders are once again, not surprised.

We spot a group of 170 Wild Deer lead by 3 large Stags, eating the wildflowers in the marsh. We leave them alone.

• Continued Marshland
• Hills
• Sea of Grass
• Sea of Grass
• Sea of Grass - Possible Encounter

They are surprised but we are not.

As we move into this area, we notice a group of under 100 men, none of them mounted moving on foot through the grass, through the south.

We inform the ground party and Stevie introduces us to them. They have many heavily armored forces below their cloaks. They bear shields and helmets with crests of ROOK. Their banners bear the symbol of Rook. We are Brilliantly welcomed. They are traveling dervishes and fanatics of Rook. They have no destination spiritually, they explain, eight minute long explanation regarding Rook. They tell us they seek out Shin's Castle and begin speaking in a foreign tongue.

They speak in a type of Common, perhaps a dialect, they are excited about selling something to Shin. They use a lot of colloquialisms. They tell us that this is the tongue of LINA, this is the origin tongue that is ancient and local to where the Dervishes are from in the south. This is the tongue from which Merchant's Cant developed.

They bring out a roll of Vellum covered in scarlet ink. They say it is a Map to the Horde of the Paintings of Astralifo. It is believed that he ascended to Demigod-hood. They have a beautiful looking thing that they say is a Magic Map leading to his masterpieces. It is worth a fortune they say.

There are four members of the group that are not wearing armor. Yohan was using the Rod of Alertness to Detect Lies. They only wavered when they said it was worth a bunch of his horde.

We invite them to our camp but they decide to leave.

Yohan and Taranis talk about sending his Hawk to warn the family of Monlik about the deception regarding the Camels. He signs a notice Yohan Smith wieldding Whirlrender of the Ember Watch. The Hawk departs for High Dell.

We head into the Lake Hex to the north west of Jacob's encampment.

Xrith pulls out the FOLDING BOAT and activates it on the lake. It is an Iron Dwarven Boat that can hold 15 persons.

The party on Hippogriffs explores some of the lake hexes.

Josalyn casts Cure Light Wounds on Omaz who is now at full health.

We have remaining on the Lake Hex, 44 individual hexes. There is one encounter over the lake.

The Hippogriff Riders are not surprised.

We spot 4 Giant Otters. Xrith knows that their pelts are valuable. Xrith follows Jacob as he tries to chase them away, toward the shore.

The Otters respond by swimming toward the shore, away from us. Xrith and Jacob will flank each of the Otters to steer them toward the shore.

They are 22” away from the shore now. The Druids can Speak with Animals. Jacob has herded them to shore. One of the Otters gets the food. We let them go.

We clear some more hexes, by turn 13…

The Hippogriff Riders can see several figures swimming under the lake, they look like bulky Men. They are swimming in rough formation and we can only see their dark silhouettes, 10-20' below the surface.

There are 10 figures.

Jacob will try to talk to them and we bring up the boat. We pursue these creatures. Xrith is about 50' up above the water. We see 10 Lizardmen. The Boat is 10“ from shore and the Lizardmen are 10” away.

• Xrith takes a shot.
• Jacob shoots.
• Josalyn flies up higher.
• Kheskhor stays invisible.
• Yohan shoots.
• Omaz prepares to repel them.
• Stevie repels.
• Beatriz fires a short bow.
• Taranis yells to Broadside the boat and gets ready to repel.

We are 60' up in the air, 2“. They have AC 5 with only bones and their natural scales. Jacob hits for 1 and 4 damage. Beatrix hits for 6 damage.

They will throw Javelins at the Hippogriff Riders from the shore.

• 3 attacks on Jacob They have a 4 in 6 chance to hit the Hippogriff. 1 misses Jacob and 2 hit the Hippogriffs. First one hits Stoneskin and it takes 2 damage.
• 2 attacks on Josalyn and her Hippogriff.
• 6 attacks on Xrith and his Hippogriff. 4 on the Hippogriff all miss. The one on Xrith misses.

The boat is moving 6” per round and now they are getting closer. They are 4“ away.

• Jacob, Josalyn and Xrith move 16” away to land.
• Taranis begins casting Entangle.
• Stevie gets her bow ready.

They continue to fling Javelins at the Hippogriff Riders…actually we flew off. They fling the javelins at the boat.

The Folding Boat is made for a Dwarf so they will get a special bonus to AC from the sides of the boat.

There are two shots on Omaz. Dwarves get a +4 and medium size get a +2 to AC. They miss. Stevie is also missed. Beatrix has AC 3/7 and the Javelin has no mod versus that type. Beatrix is hit for 4 damage and she is TAKEN OUT! Beatrix Drops! Omaz is missed and Kheskhor is missed.

Stevie hits for 4 and Yohan hits for 5 damage. Taranis casts Entangle. They must save on a 17. Foliage vines and roots rise up and grab hold of 7 Lizardmen and the others are slowed.

The boat party brings it 2“ from the short and broadside it .

• Xrith casts Entangle.
• Kheskhor casts Sleep.
• Jacob and Josalyn charge.

We lose intiative. They are morale checking and Surrender Immediately!

We take them prisoner and bring them back to camp. Stevie binds Beatrix's wounds. Josalyn casts a Cure Light Wounds on Beatrix and is now only at -1 hp. ACTUALLY NEVERMIND!

RETCON: Beatrix is still alive!

The form is 18' long for the boat.

• 5 turns of searching on the lake, then rest.

During hour 5, we find nothing and rest again. We notice fish, frogs, cattails and typical marshy wetlands type of plants.

During hour 6, there is a potential encounter.

We are not surprised. The Hippogriff Riders notice a slim figure under the water, we only spot it for a moment and then it is gone.

We keep going and ignore it.

During hour 7, there is nothing and then we rest.

During hour 8, there is nothing and we rest.

During hour 9, there is nothing and we rest again.

During hour 10, in the next Lake hex…

We are not surprised but something else is…

On the surface of the water, along the coast, we see three Turtles. Giant Turtles. They are quite big and they have a 30' long shells. They slide out of the water and turn to face the water.

• Jacob and Josalyn land and begin unstrapping themselves.
• Kheshor says lets get this boat to shore.
• Selethade is protesting killing these creatures.
• Xrith circles overhead.
• Yohan keeps rowing the boat.
• Taranis aids but does not wish to attack.

The Hippogriff Riders land and begin unstrapping on the next round. The Snapping Turtles are quite big. Jacob and Josalyn are 10” away. The others are maneuvering the boat and the Turtles do not know which way to turn. One pulls its legs inside, curious what we are doing. They are now on the shore.

• Yohan moves to engage.
• Omaz lights a torch.
• Stevie moves to engage and Beatrix fires at the one with its head poking out.
• Taranis wants to cast Speak with Animals.
• Kheskhor waits.
• Selethade casts Faerie Fire.
• Josalyn activates her rod and engages, after unstrapping.
• Xrith tries to push them further ashore.
• Jacob tries to yell toward the encampment.

If Jacob's voice doesnt carry, they will at least see him waving.

The Turtles begin moving toward the landed party. They have a movement of 3“.

Beatrix shoots both shots against AC 5. One shot hits for 4 damage. Speak With Animals takes 3 segments and Faerie Fire is also 3 segments. It goes off and one Snapping Turtle is alighted by purple light. Speak with Animals goes off and Taranis tells them to “Flee!”.

The Turtles are 3” away. They are afraid of fire and will react to the waving torch. They are not slowed by the waving torch.

• Stevie backs away from them further.
• Beatrix fires two arrows.
• Jacob moves to engage.
• Josalyn moves to engage.
• Selethade backs up behind the front lines.
• Briiz brings out the Garrison.
• Xrith pelts one from the air from 4“ up.
• Yohan moves to engage.
• Omaz gets his spear ready.

The Turtles advance again and the party can easily stay away from them. They respond to the Speak With Animals. Their eyes light up and they stop their approach, cancel their aggression and begin walking back to the shore of the water.

Jacob tells Taranis to tell them to go far away. There is a confusing exchange between the Druid and Turtles. After a moment, they comprehend and begin heading north.

The Turtles depart without any bloodshed!

We head back to camp, the weather remains cloudy.

• Island in the first hex. Marsh.
• Island in the fifth hex. Sea of Grass.
• Another island randomly, which is connected to another island hex. Sea of Grass and Mountain.

Checking encounters on each of the islands.

We would be surprised but we have a Hawk with us.

Sabre calls us to alert and we spot a big shack on the Sea of Grass island. It looks cobbled together with swamp logs and mud. Out front is a Turtle that is only 1/3rd the size, 8' in diameter. It sets next to a big boulder and there is a backpack or a dead animal on the rock. The shack is dark but it has a front door and no windows.

We inform the boat and stay with the boat. Jacob and Josalyn will land as the boat comes ashore.

They alight on the edge of the island. The place is extremely muddy and has an off smell to it. The island resembles “Pac-Man” and there is a 6” sized shack, but its actually pretty big sized. The turtle is sitting by a boulder. The entire island is covered in swampy Sea of Grass type grass.

The Island is about 600' across.

• Stevie approaches the shack, prepared to fight.
• Beatrix has her bow out.
• Taranis is asleep? He is taking cover.
• Jacob motions for everyone to spread out and he yells “Who goes here?”
• Xrith flies around from above.
• Yohan holds.

The door bursts open and a Hill Giant emerges. Xrith fires and does 3 damage. This does not make him happy.

Kheskhor, Selethade and Taranis feel the angry vibration as the Giant roars!

The Shack is taller than the Giant. The Turtle extends its neck in surprise.

• Jacob charges
• Josalyn charges.
• Xrith flies up high.
• Thorgard charges.
• Beatrix hides in shadows.
• Stevie charges.
• Yohan charges.
• Taranis pulls out a sling.

Giant tries to take out the Hippogriff with a boulder. It is targeting the Hippogriff. The AC is considered better with modifiers, starting from 0, it goes to AC 1. The Hippogriff is struck! Cythera takes 11 damage. He can still fly but would need to take 15 damage to fall out of the sky.

Additional Giants rush out of the shack. They are moving at 1.6“ per segment. The other Giants, 5 of them, charge forth and attack Stevie, who has a longsword.

• One hits for 14 damage.
• Another hit for 9 damage.
• Another hit for 11 damage.

Stevie is at -3 hp! Stevie DROPS!

Jacob is missed but can counterattack. He autohits AC 5 for 19 and 14 damage. Josalyn hits for 7 and 11 damage, killing the Giant!

The 5th Giant is standing back watching. The Turtle is observing the fight.

Xrith has flown straight up and should be out of range from the boulders.

Yohan did 16 damage. Omaz did 7 damage with his spear.

• Xrith dives and tries to land on the backside of the shack.
• Yohan attacks.
• Omaz attacks.
• Beatrix will need to morale check but will Move Silently to engage.
• Taranis moved out. He starts casting Entangle.
• Jacob and Josalyn unstrap.
• Kheskhor casts Invisibility on Selethade.

We get tied initiative.

Yohan attacked and did 17 damage. This does not kill one.

One attack on Omaz hits and he takes 9 damage! There are 3 attacks against Yohan. He has AC 0/1, One hit for 8 damage and then another 8 damage. Third one hit for 15 damage. Yohan gets another attack and does 19 damage. This kills the Giant!

The Entangle goes off on the lone Hill Giant! It fails its save and is grabbed by the vines.

The Turtle has engaged in melee.

• Omaz attacks.
• Beatrix tries to Backstab.
• Taranis fires a sling.
• Kheskhor
• Yohan does a fighting withdraw.
• Xrith casts Entangle.
• Selethade casts Entangle.
• Jacob and Josalyn meet in melee.

Taranis misses. Jacob autohits for 13 damage. Omaz pokes one for 2 damage. Josalyn did 7 and 10 damage. Beatrix backstabs for 8 damage.

The three Giants are still up and must roll a Morale Check. The Giants fight on!

Yohan is missed but is being pursued by a Giant, it misses and Yohan misses. Jacob charges and does 10 damage to the one on Yohan.