• IONA - MNK4
• JOHZAL - MAG1
• ELIAS - ASN?
• KEK - FTR6

Back in Great Hill, the party is fully rested and healed. The Hippogriff training has been completed with Maervahr's Hippogriff mount so he flies to Great Hill to meet with the party.

The party arrived safely in Great Hill where we learned that they have Giant Goats. Kek is also here with the group.

The Giant Goats are trained by the people of Great Hill and some of them are used in battle. Iona asks about acquiring one and they say to receive a Giant Goat is a great gift. In battle, they have a powerful charge attack. For 1,000 gp, they will sell a Giant Goat. However, they also say that if we defeat DOOMPAW, the Ape that wears the Golden Crown at Apefang Maw, they will bestow us with 2 Giant Goats as a reward.

Apefang Maw is an intimidating looking cave with an opening that resembles a vicious Ape mouth. They say that someone may have been responsible for replacing the Apes to this location long ago and now a family or small tribe of Apes live there.

• Maervahr - Invisible, Stoneskin
• Kek - Invisible, Stoneskin
• Elias - Invisible
• Fothas - Dwarf FTR1, AC 1/3, Med Shield, MV 9“, 1-4 Doors, 1-2 Listen, 18/51, 10, 11, 16, 18, 11, hp 13, LG, Rook. Invisible, Stoneskin

Fothas arrives in Great Hill and receives 2,730 xp or gp.

We head back and EVERYONE is currently invisible.

On Day 1, the party heads south taking the route we took before. We are moving on foot all the way back to Mombafra. Maervahr is scouting for the group on his Hippogriff and flies up ahead. As he scouts out the area, he looks to the hexes beyond our path.

The party is all on lightly encumbered as we pass through scrubland. There are no encounters on the first day.

We discuss the Castle that we noticed previously and how castles have special rules for detection.

The party found something, a village!

Maervahr sees this while scouting from above. He can see grasslands that are about 7' tall like the ones around Gren. This is the final edge of the Sea of Grass up ahead. All of the green hexes are Sea of Grass hexes. Maervahr can see a Thorpe in the grasses with a population of probably less than 100 people. Kek, also has a Hippogriff and flies over to the castle.

It is a single walled castle around a keep. There are long red banners with a pointed triangular end. Each of the banners bears a symbol of a golden snake with an open maw and a sword for a tongue. The castle is well occupied with an obvious garrison, a stable, Horsemen, and a couple decades of Cavalry. Along the walls are Crossbowmen and Infantry. Their numbers are around 25 Horsemen and 30 Infantry. The garrison houses many more forces that are not a part of the main garrison outside. We also notice a ballista scorpion and an oil weapon. There are also 2 onagers and 2 oil cauldrons but only the 1 ballista scorpion.

Kek knows that this is a standard amount for a force of this size in this area.

There is one wall going all around that is about 25' high. It is decently thick.

On Day 2, we scouted out the pass a bit and discover a sizable marshland to the east. We head toward the Monastery of the Red Sun.

THE PROTECTION OF TRAWIS EXUDES A BONUS FOR US!

Orcs take -1 for this and another -1 for being outside.

There is a marsh and forest neat the volcano with a castle and two villages. As we move through this area, we are exposed to the western edge of the RED SUN VALLEY. There is a CASTLE that is, based on what we have heard, must be CASTLE ELIR.

As we get closer, we see that the castle is not occupied by any Men, but it has an enormous beast lying in the courtyard. It is a gargantuan thing that takes up a huge portion of the castle. The castle itself has fallen into ruin and the beast is much bigger than a Dragon. It lies motionless in the courtyard.

Beyond this, we see a Thorpe to the north east of Castle Elir. This is the Thorpe of ELIR. We have not heard much of these places before but we can tell that there are no more than 100 people residing here. We see a couple single home dwellings in the scrublands to the south, occupied by outsiders most likely.

As we fly to the south and fly toward the monastery…

We see a small but sizable hoard of Humanoids moving near the vines. There are 45 Gnolls that appear to be dressed for war. We avoid them and go toward the monastery.

Once we arrive at the Monastery of the Red Sun, we see 60 Hobgoblins on the rooftop. They are bunched up away from the statue near the north entrance. The party realizes they cannot take on such a force so we make for Hill Pen Depths.

The bars of the entrance have been replaced, the entire portcullis in fact, has been replaced. It looks more like a cage that was not meant to be opened. The Dwarf, Fothas, destroys the portcullis with a bend bars roll.

The party enters the dungeon and we climb down to the bottom of HILL PEN DEPTHS. It appears as though this was once an old jail. There are still old ropes that the Goblins were using to get up and down from the bottom. At the base level there are walls that are illuminated by a bioluminescent fungus.

Kek eats a mushroom as we can see that the mushrooms twinkle.

There is a great pit here with growths that are all pulsating and moving slightly, like a mirror flashing from across an underground lake. There are two old wooden buildings here and a massive pile of wood debris. The Dwarf can tell that Dwarves dug this pit in the past.

Kek's hands become powdery blue from the mushrooms and he knows that these are called GIAKAS mushrooms. They are considered fantastic spell components and when snorted, these can produce hallucinations.

The pit is 60' and the Giakas mushrooms line the area. We climb down except for Elias who stays at the top. There is a weird shaft that goes straight down and as we go, we find no iron ore or anything valuable while scanning the rock surface.

We are now standing atop a pile of burned wood and rubble that is 6-8' tall. There is also a large stone and some structures, some mining refuse or something that collapsed in the past. Maervahr illuminates up to 30' with his lantern and Kek lights a torch. We take a minute to map the whole room.

We are not surprised.

The rubble does end here and the walls are completely covered with the bioluminescent fungus running up the wall. There is a sign of a collapse that occurred here long ago. The Dwarf can tell that this collapse was intentional and the way beyond is completely sealed off. It would take us about 8 hours with tools. We can see that there are more of these mushrooms growing along the collapsed wall. There is a stream that is running through this underground that is about a foot and a half deep.

The rubble appears to be disturbed by us moving around. That is when we notice 2 Humanoid figures…glowing with a sickly green color. They rise out of the rubble as though they have been slumbering for a thousand years.

• Maervahr casts ROPE TRICK.
• Kek moves to engage.

The figures will not be able to charge us.

Fothas attacks and does 1 damage to the creature. Kek engages them in melee and we can see that these Stone Creatures make no response. These are large creatures.

Maervahr climbs up the rope and goes into the extra-dimensional space. Neither of the stone creatures can hit Kek. Kek splits one of the stone creatures with his hand axe, which destroys one! Maervahr tries to throw a dagger and it misses, targeting Kek, though it bounces off his armor.

Kek does 4 damage with his mace and 1 damage with his hand axe. This other one is now fairly cracked. Maervahr missed with a second dagger attack and then does 1 damage to the stone creature.

Elias checks through the old stone rubble and wood and drops some of it into the pit. It hits as he drops it on KEK! Kek takes 13 damage from the rubble.

Kek continues attack the stone creature and does 2 damage with a hand axe and 1 mace damage (3 total). Fothas shows up and destroys the second stone creature.

We decide to go explore up the underground river. Fothas examines the creatures and he judges that the rock that the creature was formed from is the same as that of the rubble. It does not look like it has been worked by hands but rather came together on their own according. The stream goes for about 120' until it gets much thinner and comes to a point at a small opening.

A man could go in if they could breathe. Maervahr can…so he crawls through the water for 10 minutes. He finds that the tunnel goes on for a while. He is crawling around in the darkness surrounded by water but there are some footholds on the rock.

Maervahr goes down the southern way which goes 200 feet until we find an impassable portion of the passage. The ceiling is low enough that there is a blanket of water. He finds a decaying Orc corpse squished up against a crack. The armor that the Orc was wearing is ruined and the corpse is bloated from the water.

Kek has also swam down with Maervahr and decides to check the corpse and looks down the hole. He finds a pouch that has electrum and golden coins:

• 13 ep
• 2 gp

We see something shining and blue spill out of the mouth of the Orc corpse. It begins to roll away in the current but Maervahr captures it into his cloak. It is a very round blue gem but it is not a sapphire.

• Deep Blue Spinel.

Maervahr and Kek return to the group and continue exploring with the party.

Suddenly, something in his mind alerts Maervahr that there are psionic impressions in the area. He feels an ancient fear, deception and anger.

We investigate the rubble collapse and find that it was intentional. Whoever caused it dug to the north and then part of the passage collapsed.

Maervahr casts Stoneskin on Kek.

We decide to leave.

We exit the dungeon and the party flies to Mombafra.

In Mombafra, Elias is going to train.

We know that the architecture of Mombafra is influenced by the Elves and Dwarves. The architecture is like the Olmecs and Mayans but there are no great pyramids, those are found in the CRADLELANDS. There are many towers inside the city. Mombafra is known to have some of the best Archers in the world and it has a population of 60,000 people.

The party decides to “look for trouble” in Mombafra.

We have encountered a Tax Collector who eyeballs us and takes notice of our possessions. We ignore him. Next, we pass by some Leatherworkers and then some members of the City Guard who are in the employ of the Lords of Mombafra. They are accompanied by robed figures and other guys in full plate. There are a total of 12 Guards and 2 Leader types.

We are in a place of run down buildings and alleys. The only building that is standing has doors hanging off its hinges. There is a monument dedicated to the “Men leaving during times of war”. It is an overgrown garden with a statue that has not seen care in a long time.

We meet with 6 plate armor wearing Warriors. They face off with us in the alley and silently draw their longswords.

Maervahr casts Lightning Bolt which takes 3 segments to cast. The others attack with their bows, doing ranged fire. The Warriors have AC 3/2.

Kek hits one for 2 damage and then Lightning Bolt goes off. Maervahr deals 28 damage to 3 of them with the Lightning Bolt spell! 2 of the Warriors are reduced to nothing and the Leader also takes 28 damage but does not die.

Fothas and Kek are charged. Elias takes 1 hp of damage.

Maervahr moves into melee and casts Burning Hands on the Leader. His sword needs to save against magic fire but he apparently already lost a magic ring and another item to the Lightning Bolt spell. The Leader takes 7 damage but is not slain!

Elias is able to disengage from the melee so now Maervahr and Elias are out of the fight.

Kek does 3 damage against the Leader and the 3 Warriors attack.

The Leader takes 10 damage!

There are 3 attacks on Fothas but all of them miss! They also miss Kek. Kek hits for 3 damage

Maervahr re-engages in the melee to cast a spell. Meanwhile, Fothas kills one with 6 damage!

We defeat all of them!

We find some coins on their bodies:

• 80 gp
• 28 sp
• Sword +3 (id 77)

On the corpse of the Leader is golden ring with etchings that are akin to those of the Cradlelands. However, the Ring has been split so it has no value! The purse of the Leader is also smoking steadily and gently. It shoots out a couple tiny bolts, like sparks.

• 4 suits of plate mail.
• Blue Spinel Gem 200 gp
• 13 ep
• 82 gp
• 28 sp
• +3 Magic Sword

Shares are 262 gp, 9 sp, 5 cp each.

• Kek gets 1785 xp
• Elias Maervahr get 585 xp
• Fothas gets 785 xp

74,868 xp total

Maervahr pays upkeep of 2,100 gp for 2 months and for having a Hippogriff.