There are five characters in the Marble Keep with 1:1 time frozen. We will continue where we left off…

• Iona - Monk, Doors 1-3.
• Sarkas
• Sabina Kalamakos - Half-Elf Cleric / Ranger / Magic-User, AC 3/3 Medium Shield, MV 9“, Doors 1-2, Listen 1-2.
• Krogg Greentongue - Half-Orc FTR 1, AC 4/4 Large Shield, MV 9”, Doors 1-2, Keen Eared Listen 1-4, 14 Years Old, AL LE.
• Iskandar - Magic-User 5.
• Fenric
• Kana

Return to the Marble Keep…

We had hired 7 Porters and 2 Linkboys, which are paid for by Sarkas.Iona gets her spears poisoned by Fenric.

It has only been 2 days since the Green Dragon has been slain. The Dragon parts are now missing and from the Dragon's chamber, there are no exits. We see the statue of a demon wielding a sword which is made of a black-gray stone that has been marbled. The statue watches ominously over the amphitheater. The remains of what is left of the Dragon lies at the base of the statue. It has not moved much.

We determine that the statue is that of a Balor Demon and has been carved from one big stone mass. The cave is not made of the same stone. This cave looks natural except that the base is a full 50' wide. The back of the amphitheater is a flat plane.

Demons exist on the lower planes that are also the domains of the gods but they have their own hierarchy.

Sarkas casts Find Traps. There is nothing trapped on the statue, it is just a black and gray rock.

Iona lights a torch and Sarkas has a holy symbol with continual light cast upon it. Our party spreads out as we move forward.

Manes Demons suddenly charge at us from the darkness! The are charging at the two closest people, Iskandar and Fenric. There are 3 attacks on Iskandar and 2 on Fenric. The Manes Demons hit Iskandar and he takes 14 damage.

They have AC 8

Fenric has a sword and hits one of the Demons. Sarkas also hits one for 9 damage. Iona charges them with a spear but misses. Kana strikes with a magic weapon but does not hit it. Sarkas hits for 3 damage.

Manes demons are 3' tall and weigh 75 pounds. Krogg overbears one and is charging. He will hit on a 9 and successfully overbears. The Manes Demon is stunned for 1 round.

The Manes attacks Krogg but the Demon is knocked out!

Another one is attacking Kana who avoids all 3 attacks. Fenric pours poison down the stunned Manes throat. Krogg knocks out another Manes demons while Fenric runs up to the unconscious Manes demons and continues trying to pour stuff into its mouth. Fenric has an AC 5 but the Manes misses Fenric.

Fenric and Krogg roll their attacks and Krogg knocks out the other demon. Another fails poison save from a Type A poison. The Demon will be affected in 2d4 rounds.

There are still no hits on Fenric. A Scorpion begins crawling along the ground of the amphitheater, toward the melee with the Manes.

Sabina is healing Iskandar a second time. The Manes does not counterattack Krogg as he overbears again. However, Krogg takes 5 damage and another Manes takes 3 damage and dies! Once the Scorpion reaches the melee, it leaps up from the ground towards a Manes demon and stings it. The Demon must save vs poison…it saves.

Sarkas kills the last one and it turns into a gas as it is destroyed. Bless does not allow one to hit a creature normally only hit with magic weapon.

We return to searching and spend 30 minutes. We find no secret compartments or doors in here. On the statue, the top of the blade and the statue's head do not seem to have anything special about them.

We are moving down the hallway until our light falls upon a collection of 5 huge Purple Mushrooms. There is also a stack of 30 corpses of Giant Rats near to the Purple Mushrooms, which are 7' tall. There are also some sparkles of coin and gems amongst the forms. The Mushrooms begin screeching!

Iona fires her crossbow as the 5 Fungi move toward us with a 1“ movement. A bunch of flasks of burning oil are tossed and cause damage to them until all of the Fungi are cast aflame. However, they do continue shrieking. A couple of arrows are fired and do 5 damage.

Krogg was charging and is now 4' away. Suddenly, a purple vine tendril whip out toward him. He must save versus poison but Krogg fails! He can still attack and does 2 damage.

At the end of the round, Fenric and Krogg are in melee with the Fungi. Krogg's Arm rots away and his weapon drops to the ground. He also loses 10% of his total hitpoints! He attacks with his off hand now.

One of the Fungi is destroyed and another tries to whip Fenric. Fenric must save versus poison, he saves! A Magic Missile spell hits 3 of them. The Missile destroys one of them and there are now 3 of the Mushrooms left. Sarkas hits one for 5 and there is another 3 damage from Sabina. All of the Purple Mushroom are on fire still with 3 left alive.

Krogg's arm is completely gone and then one of his legs rots away.

The Mushrooms are stopping around Krogg. They take 1 damage from Sabina and the Magic Missile destroys the last one. Everything falls silent.

Krogg's other arm rots away as the tendril's effect persists. He now has no legs and no arms. Fenric decides to put Krogg out of his misery just as his torso rots away. The Fungi all burn away to nothing as we watch Krogg's head which begins to decay. There are a pool of coins where the Mushrooms grew out of the ground.

We pull the rest of the material from the modules.

• 3000 cp.
• 8 gems worth 100 gp, 100 gp, 500 gp, 350 gp, 5 gp, 1100 gp, 40 gp, 1000 gp.

We see 7 other bodies wearing chainmail and bearing longswords with medium shields

Due to our loss, we decide leave with what we have found. We head back to Gren.

We make it back to Gren without any difficulty.

To wait on some characters on bedrest, we advance our characters 1 week in time.

IONA PAYS 100 GP UPKEEP.

• Dan received a quest. About 6 days travel to the north east of the hilly wilderness is the lair of an Ettin. This is an Ettin with 4 heads and 4 arms. The Quest is for a mineral and for a rod with a ball shape. Dan knows that it is a 4 Headed Ettin and that it is solitary, There is a chance that it might suffer from some kind of coordination or speed penalty but it is nocturnal, It will now suffer from being in the sunlight, however. We will need to follow it back to its lair. It is also rumored to be 13' tall and to have some kind of relation with Orcs. Morlan of Lebon furnishes us with a particular map which shows 6 days of unburdened travel. We must ride past the Valley of the Red Sun as we are kind of traveling parallel to it. This area will be true wilderness so there is no telling what we may encounter. The map will lead us to a tribal village in the hills where we will encounter a Village of local Tribesman that do not take kindly to outsiders. They may give us some further guidance about the Ettin's lair. Be polite and respectful as they are formidable warriors.

• For a Paladin quest, the Paladin character cannot become lost while they are attempting to find their Special Mount or Warhorse.

• Morlan of Lebon also has a dire need for gorgon teeth.

Back in Gren, we decide to split up the treasure.

There is 429 xp from coin a piece. Shane gets the 1000 gp gem.

The XP from coin: 354 xp.

We each get 68 platinum, 3 gold, 1 electrum, 1 silver, 4 copper.

Shane gets 1x gem (1000 gp).

The XP from coin: 442 xp.

We each get 85 platinum, 3 gold, 1 electrum, 9 copper.

The following gems go to Kana: 500 gp, 350 gp, 40 gp.

• Iona
• Randimir
• Iskandar
• Kana
• Dan
• Fenric
• Sabina

We are going on a wilderness trek to the north. Our Porters and Linkboys will be coming.

GREN IS NOW A TOWN OF 2,500 PEOPLE.

We head out and head toward Mombafra.

From Mombafra we head up into the hills to find the village. It is north east of Mombafra and they are known to grow many different flowers of different colors. They also have strange plants and a species of fruit that is akin to pomegranates.

We come across no other Humans but we do see a strange sight: about 150 yards ahead is a humanoid figure that shines white in the sun. We can see that the figure has 3 heads and 3 legs. It has a big clump of heads.

The Humanoid figure continues to get closer to us and we can see that it has 3 arms and 3 legs coming at us.

The creature falls over as an arrows hits it in the chest. We get close and discover that we have slain a hermaphrodite humanoid with 3 legs, long toes with 3 nails for gripping. Its arms end in sharp points and it has long claws. The Human-like mouth stretches across its entire chest where it has 3 weird tentacle things protruding. The middle head has eyes that are rolled back.

Iona stabs it with a spear afterward to confirm the abomination is dead.

Night passes without incident as we camp. We prepare to leave for the next day.

The day passes without incident and into the next evening. We have been traveling for 3 days and we continue to the north east.

As the sun reaches the horizon it is about one hour from dusk…

Far off in the distance, we suddenly see 3 creatures soaring in the air. They are flying at a downward angle toward the hills up ahead. The 3 red figures soar, then turn and head for some unknown destination in a hill some miles away.

The Red Dragons descend and then disappear behind some high range hills. They were only a couple of movement points off to the west (left). We do occasionally find some small woods out here but nothing dense. There are no known forests on the way. About a 10th of hills are covered in woods.

The following day, our animals need to graze or they will lose hp. Dan casts Leomund's Tiny Hut.

Kana goes foraging and manages to collect some berries and fruit. Iona finds that not too far away is a pond with a stream and some water. The Ranger finds tracks of many animalsthere. They appear to be Ogre Tracks along with many Goat tracks, Wolves, and Dogs. The tracks stop and appear suddenly.

We have been traveling for 5 days now. Morlan of Lebon said that the village is named Great Hill because the hill upon which it is built is pretty big. There is a palisade around the hill.

The next day passes without incident and we setup camp once again.

It is currently the middle of the night and in the early hours before dawn.

Just at the edge of the firelight, Dan's Cat familiar sees something. Dan the Magic-User is awake and on watch. His Cat shares its night vision with Dan.

There is a humanoid figure about the size of a man that is 13” away. Then another Humanoid figure is noticed about 9“ away which is the same as the other one. It looks like the same kind of weird creature that we saw previously. They move away and there is no encounter.

We break camp the next morning and continue on.

On our 7th day of travel, we suddenly see some large shapes moving in the distance. They are 4 legged and appear to be 5 ft tall at the shoulder. They are at triple the range of a torch. The encounter distance is 80 yards or 240', about 8” (outdoor) away. We can only see their silhouettes.

Iona attacks wither her crossbow and does 1 damage to one of these creatures.

There are 11 of these four legged creatures and they leap up with a start. Now there are 10 of them and they run off down the hill, out of our vision. The one that was struck rears up on its two legs but does not flee.

The group is casting Sleep and Entangle.

We see an enraged Giant Goat that is charging toward Iona. It gets 1“ per segment and has 24” speed when charging, 2.4“ per segment.

It takes 3 segments for Entangle but Sleep goes off. The one Giant Goat goes down! It looks like a 5' tall goat. It appears that all the other goats have fled over the hillside and are now gone. The look of the goat is fearsome.

We make Giant Goat kebabs.

It is now our 8th day of travel and we finally find Great Hill.

We can see grass and mud huts in the distance with a palisade made of logs close to the nearby wood. Warriors emerge and robed Clerics that come out from behind the Warriors, all men, greet us. They seem satisfied with Kana's response to their questions. The Warrior says it is fine then, we can come into their village if we leave our weapons at the palisade.

We are lead directly to the Chief who is a fearsome looking Cleric with robes. He appears somewhat resplendent. A nearby Witch Doctor eyes Dan's robes with covetous jealousy.

We explain why we have come and Chief Belgigo says that he has not seen this creature, the Ettin, and he is well acquainted with the Giant kind.

However, one of his Warriors says he has seen this one, He says he saw it near to a place known as APE FANG MAW. He says it is a days travel by foot to the north east of the village. It is a cave built long ago by the ancients but it is so dilineated, as it looks like a Great Beast maw. Hunters always find good game near this place but it is lorded over by Great Apes with Giant Lizard pets. DOOM PAW is a powerful warrior and mighty terrible that guards its territory fiercely. It is said that he carries treasure with him. It is from this cave that we must find what we seek on the map. He warns us against entering Ape Fang.

We ask them about the creatures we may encounter on the road. They say it would be unlucky to bear witness to these creatures, called Tirafag, which are of origin unknown. They have a desire for decaying flesh, which is unending. They are a type of wizards foul creation and it is not uncommon that a hunter will go off on their own and face one.

“Are they easily defeated?” He says they like to wait for more favorable circumstances and they emit a foul blinding magic that stuns the party. Tirafag have multiplied with illusions so at that point it is hard to fight them.

If we see the Maw from a distance the Chief says he is interested to know how many numbers we can see from outside the cave. Their people are fond of gold and would not turn any down but he says many hunters have foolishly tried to brave the maw and have not returned.

Dan pulls out a gem worth 5 gp and offers that to the Chief. He is happy to receive the gem but the Witch Doctor's jealousy grows.

The Cheif proclaims that we are always welcome in Great Hill.

The next day, the Chief warns us against traveling to the west. He says that it is the hunting grounds of an ANCIENT RED DRAGON called LOTHUN'EEL. This Red Dragon has many children and grand children and cousins and they all range in the hills for hundreds of miles. The Dragon does not like trespassers.

Only the smallest of the Dragons care to bother with small villages such as theirs. Great Hill's wealth numbers fewer than the heads and is thus not a target for the Dragons. Plus, Great Hill has many formidible warriors.

We will set out from Great Hill, heading north east to look for the Twin Ettin.

The next morning comes, This is the 9th day since we have been out in the wilderness.

We depart and after some time hiking through hilly terrain, we finally see Ape Fang Maw. We set up camp fairly close to it and we can see the entrance built into the side of the hill. There is a a cave opening supported by an arch of crude stones placed intentionally. Outside, two rows of stone lead toward an opening, to the Great Maw. It looks like an open mouth full of teeth and the molars of a great beast. We can see a Giant Lizard on the stones along with two great shapes, Giant Apes.

We can see the opening to the maw.

A couple miles to the west is where to find the Twin Ettin. However, about 18” away, two of the Carnivorous Apes hop up on the boulders and bare their teeth. They roar and bellow while beating on their chests. The Giant Lizard lumbers into the cave as we quickly depart. Ape Fang Maw disappears behind the hill and we can hear the Apes still screeching and roaring even from over the hillside.

The group heads further toward the location of the Twin Ettin lair location.

We head into the area of the Ettins location and find there are some caves in the area.

After 4 hours of searching, we finally arrive by the late afternoon, while the sun is still up.

The encounter distance is 15“ and we see the great monster we set out to slay, the Four Headed Ettin. Its form is mirrored as if by magical mirror as it walks on 4 legs. Though clumsy, it wields a club in each hand. It approaches to a distance of 14”.

Dan is casting Slow while Randimir casts Protection From Evil. Iona prepares her grapnel and rope.

The Twin Ettin begins charging from 14“. It moves at 9” speed, or 1.2“ per segment.

There is no save for Slow, which is cast and centered on the Ettin, Everything is Slowed which halves the movement rate and the attack rate. It lasts for 8 rounds. Everything in the area is effected. At the same time, Protection From Evil goes off.

Magic Missile also goes off. The Ettin just keeps moving, It is now moving 5” speed and is at 9.5“ from the closest people, 11.5” from the people in back.

We are on an open hill, the Twin Ettin has an AC 3. It can charge again and it is charging. With the 4.5“ move rate it can charge at 6”.

Sleep has no effect at all. Magic Missile does 10 damage. Entangle goes off and it must save on an 11, it saves. However, Entangle halves its movement again.

Its charge is used and the 4 Headed Ettin is a mere 1.1 yards from our front line. Iskandar throws another Magic Missile. The Shield spell goes off and the Magic Missile spell does 10 damage.

I rolled an 8 to try and lasso it with a rope and a grapnel.

The Giant Abomination of an Ettin is now half dead. The Ettin moves to engage the party with an arm sticking out of its back and an arm out of its side. It is a massive creature standing 13' tall.

Summon Insects is cast which makes it not able to attack. It does nothing but prevent it from taking more damage by trying to defend itself. The insect swarm moves with incredible speed and cover the Ettin's legs like a black pair of pants. It is now trying to fling off the ants.

Magic Missile is cast again and does 14 damage. The Dagger from Fenric hits for 4 damage and it must make a poison save.

The Cloud of Ants flies all over. The Ettin's flesh begins to wobble and then the Twin Ettin topples over onto one of its backs.

Dan reaches down and touches it to discharge the Shocking Grasp spell.

We destroy the abomination!

We dont see an obvious lair but it did leave tracks that can be followed. We check the body for any loot.

The Twin Ettin has 2 gems in a grubby pouch.

The XP from coin: 442 xp.

Our divided shares are 85 platinum, 3 gold, 1 electrum, 9 copper.

504 XP for IONA and she now has 2068 xp total.