Campaign 2 - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

Cast

Curt Bolin - DM
Birdie Bolin - Willow, the half elf rogue
Sam Bolin - Lyrup, the fairy bard
Trent Reusser - Tude, the tortle monk
Sammy Reusser - Pinky, the elf sorcerer

 

 

Campaign 1 - The Lost Histories

Cast

Curt Bolin - Dungeon Master
Birdie Bolin - Gallexsy, the Elven Wizard
Samantha Bolin - Meme, the Elven Druid
Jill Bolin, Matt Lane or Sometimes Guest Player - Dave/Fat Deb, the Halfling Cleric

Non-Player Characters (NPCs)

Christopherson - ancient evil creature bent on destroying the world
Eltor - Ancient black dragon that destroyed Xiloscient, the elven captial
Pandjed "Jed" Verthisathurgiesh - Dragon born Barbarian
Greg - Teenage deputy of Westmin, has taken over magic shop in Mount Olympus
Doc - Human leader of the Musketeers at Olympus
Ian - Human Commander of the Musketeers at Olympus
Blondie - Tinker Gnome, musket builder for the Musketeers at Olympus
Rusty - Dwarven Rogue, someone claiming to be Rusty in brig of Olympus
Betha - Human Ranger, fights with a musket and has the munchies
Gerald - Halfling Sorcerer, old friend and mentor of Dave's. Died protecting group from werewolves.
Guy - Portly fisherman from Westmin, wears a pot for a helmet
Wyatt - Knight from the southern kingdom of Miam

 

4/23/2023

68 DDD The Beginning of the End, Part 10

The group saves the universe!  The end (of campaign 1).

 

12/24/2022

67 DDD The Beginning of the End, Part 9

Mishakal steps in and saves the group again.  Back to the future!

 

12/11/2022 

66 DDD The Beginning of the End, Part 8

Christopherson the vampire shows up.  Doesn't go well.

 

10/25/2022

65 DDD The Beginning of the End, Part 7

The group still is not magical.  Christopherson is a scientist.

 

7/26/2022

64 DDD The Beginning of the End, Part 6

The group gets arrested.  They have no magic.  And they are in the future... in the past.  Fat Deb doesn't get it.

 

4/13/2022

63 DDD The Beginning of the End, Part 5

Time travel.  What?

 

2/6/2022

62 DDD The Beginning of the End, Part 4

Christopherson takes over Mount Olympus.  Group stops him from monologging and the telling of his plan.  I guess we'll just find out later?

 

1/22/2022

61 DDD The Beginning of the End, Part 3

Meme kills the seven dwarves.

 

11/8/2021

60 DDD The Beginning of the End, Part 2

Fat Deb is bad at impersonations.

10/26/2021

59 DDD The Beginning of the End

The gang gets into a fist fight and decides that the muskelators are a good idea again.  They are very clearly not a good idea.

10/10/2021

58. DDD The City of Atlantis, Part 9

Fat Deb eats some ice cream and Gallexy is so mean to kids.  Meme still won't give up on finding a stupid bear.

 

9/15/2021

57. DDD The City of Atlantis, Part 8

Birds, boats, and puffs of gas?

 

7/11/2021

56. DDD The City of Atlantis, Part 7

Fight with a Lich and a Deathknight.  The Dungeon Master Screws up some rules.

 

6/22/2021

55. DDD The City of Atlantis, Part 6

Guy and Fat Deb fall in love.

 

6/13/2021

54. DDD The City of Atlantis, Part 5

Under Atlantis, Meme meets an old friend that died and is now a ghost.  The ghost tells the group about a magic hunting monster.  Guy and Jed don't need rescuing as they rescued themselves and who knows where they're at now.  Fuzzy demons are a thing apparently.

 

02/22/2021

53. DDD The City of Atlantis, Part 4

The group finds more children under the city, but Fat Deb is ok with these children.  Everyone decides to help each other, and the three musketeers are really bad at puzzles.

 

02/08/2021

52. DDD The City of Atlantis, Part 3

There are people in the city, unfortunately they are creepy children that Fat Deb doesn't like at all.

 

01/25/2020

51. DDD The City of Atlantis, Part 2

No one's in the city.  Meme finds a cat.  Gallexy finds computer hacking skills.

 

12/23/2020

50. DDD The City of Atlantis

The group gets to Atlantis, and get shot at a lot by robots.

 

11/29/2020

49. DDD No Safe Harbor, Part 9

Everyone promptly decides to forget about Kyleland and leaves.  Atlantis here we come!

 

10/25/2020
48. DDD No Safe Harbor, Part 8

The group kills Kyle.  Fat Deb gets the killing blow and will never let the others forget that Fat Deb killed the beholder.

 

09/20/2020
47. DDD No Safe Harbor, Part7

The group argues a lot... again.  They go back to plan A to steal from Kyle.

09/07/2020
46. DDD No Safe Harbor, Part 6

Gallexsy dies in this one.  She comes back.  Bamf's the group out of Kyle's room.  The musketeers need a new plan.  Oh, and Kyle turns out to be a beholder.  What!?

05/17/2020
45. DDD No Safe Harbor, Part 5

The group argues... a lot.  They try to steal something from Kyle but doesn't go well.

05/05/2020
44. DDD No Safe Harbor, Part 4

Our heroes get rooms, but no privacy, for winning the match in the fighting arena.  They meet Felicia, a goliath that is the head of "service" in Kyleland.  They also meet Ubo, a tortle in charge of "defense."  This is a weird world.  Ubo agrees to help the three musketeers if it means he and his people can leave.

04/19/2020
43. DDD No Safe Harbor, Part 3

Being swallowed by a Kraken apparently takes you to a fighting arena.  Meme takes on a weird octopus/crab monster as a giant scorpion in front of a cheering and screaming crowd.  This is all done for the amusement of Kyle, the wizard that resides over this weird land called Kyleland.  Fat Deb puts on a show for her fans.

03/15/2020
42. DDD No Safe Harbor, Part 2

The musketeers defeat the dragon turtle!  Then they get swallowed by a Kraken.

01/26/2020
41. DDD No Safe Harbor

The morning after the fall of Miam, the Musketeers and the refugees attempt to regroup and figure out what they are going to do. Doc leads the effort and gets all of the ships of Miam to help out with the effort. The Musketeers’ griffons and their Atlantean jet will also be used to get people away from the city. While this is going on Doc also devises another plan. She approaches Dave, Meme, and Gallexsy and sends them on a separate secret mission. Doc informs them that she suspects that Christopherson asked them to go to Atlantis is because what is happening in Miam is also happening there. There have been lights seen shooting up from the island of Atlantis, and Doc explains to the group that these lights mean that they are abandoning the island. Their priority should be saving the people of Miam, but they also have a duty to see if they can save their fellow Musketeers, Betha and Blondie. Doc also has Ian, the Captain of the Musketeers, accompany the group as a sort of guide since both he and Doc are originally from Atlantis. The group agrees and sets off to try and find someone with a boat that is willing to go to Atlantis, and isn’t being used with the refugee effort.

Eventually the group finds a small boat called, “The Fancy Footwork” and is captained by an elf named Azaki. Azaki agrees to take them for a tidy sum of gold, and if he’s able to give some food massages to the elven ladies in the group. The Fancy Footwork is a small boat, however, and the group needs to leave behind their horses (and elephants).

After a day at sea, the group settles in, Gallexsy gets see sick, and Mr. Bobbok (Meme’s awakened chicken companion) discovers an incredible liking for coffee. This is when an odd figure is seen flying towards the Fancy Footwork and the ship comes under attack by pirates. The attack is started by a flying trifling that shoots a crossbow bolt connected to a large rope into the back of the Fancy Footwork. The other end of the rope is attached to a large pirate ship that Azaki identifies is captained by the dread pirate 9 Lives. The group fights back against the pirates and the pirates quickly realize they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. Just when the tide of battle changes to the favor of our heroes, a large monster emerges from below the water’s surface. A dragon turtle appears!

 

01/12/2020
40. DDD Working for a Living, Part 8

Three weeks have passed with the musketeers in the city of Miam. Things have been spiraling out of control. Instead of the demons being stopped, they have come back in even greater numbers. The Musketeers have been called in full force to help out the city guard and knights. Doc has established round the clock patrols of the city. On this particular night, Meme and Betha are part of one patrolling group, and Gallexsy, Dave, and Blondie are part of another.

During their patrol, each group encounters a lone figure. In both cases each figure turns out to be a powerful undead creature, carrying a small magical cage. Engaging in combat is short lived as both Betha and Blondie fall quickly to the powerful attacks of these creatures. The rest of the musketeers do the best that they can, but the creatures quickly use the small cages to capture a bright spark of light (the group assumes the fallen comrades’ souls) from the chests of the fallen Musketeers. After the light is captured, in both cases, the undead creatures disappear into thin air.

Rushing back to the church where the Musketeers are head quartered, Meme, Gallexsy, and Dave reunite just in time to encounter another figure. Throughout the city more and more battles can be heard. The demons are coming in greater number and are more ferocious than ever before. This new figure the group encounters identifies himself as Christopherson and also states he’s the reason for everything happening in the city right now. It should also be mentioned before getting to Christopherson, Meme managed to break into the pet shop, leave gold on the counter, and get her baby elephant. However, she was not able to separate the new child from its mother and somehow snuck both out of the shop and using the mother as her mount, rode the elephant through the streets of Miam. Meme manages to skirt around Christopherson on her elephant as she wanted to get the mother and her baby in the church safely.

Meme quickly returns in time to hear that Christopherson orchestrated all of this to hurt The Three Musketeers. He had been trying more direct ways but explained that nothing as worked, so he has decided to take a different tactic. He would go after the group’s friends and loved ones to hurt Meme, Gallexsy, and Dave. After explaining this, Christopherson also tells the group that he will be waiting for them on Atlantis and then he disappears into thin air as well.

The city of Miam quickly devolves in to pandemonium as the demons quickly overwhelm the city’s defenses. Everyone is forced to abandon the city, with half of Miam’s population being driven north, and the other half south. On the south side is where the harbor of the city is, and so the only escape for the people in the south is over water. However, the demons stop their attack once the people are out of the city.

 

11/10/2019
39. DDD Working for a Living, Part 7

With Dave fully now fully recovered, and the girls wanting some down time, they take a day to explore Miam a little bit and do some shopping. Accompanying the group shopping is Meme’s newly awakened chicken pet that she has named Mr. BokBok. Mr. Bokbok is hopelessly devoted to Meme due to the magic that was used to give him sentience, but Meme knows that this is only temporary and needs to treat Mr. BokBok as nice as she can for the next couple of weeks. To help fuel this, Meme decides that Mr. BokBok needs an elephant to ride as his mount. After searching pet store after pet store she finally finds a shop that has a pregnant elephant that is due in about a month. Meme haggles with the pet store owner and manages to talk him down to 5,000 gold pieces for the unborn elephant.

Leaving the pet shop the group is approached by a shady looking man. This man offers to give them group a lot of gold if they were to do him a favor by roughing up Sir Wyatt. He doesn’t want them to kill him, just to hurt him a bit. Thankfully the girls did not agree to do this and decided to focus on the suspicious man by asking more questions around why he wants this done. Rather than answering under Dave’s zone of truth spell, the man takes off running with Dave and Gallexsy in hot pursuit. Meme takes a brief de-tour in a tailor’s shop and hastily buys a cowboy costume for Mr. BokBok, again in an attempt to keep Mr. BokBok in good spirits for when the charm magic wears off.

Racing through the city of Miam, the three musketeers finally catch up to the shady man at the end of an alley. But it turns into a trap as the group’s path is quickly blocked on all sides by more men. These men include an assassin and a wizard of their own. The shady looking man also transforms himself revealing a demon in disguise. However, the demon and the men underestimated the trio’s fighting prowess, especially with Dave back to full health, and Dave, Meme, and Gallexsy quickly over take them. During the fight Gallexsy has Boom protect Mr. BokBok so no harm would come to him. The assassin in the group of ambushers does manage to get away, but on his way out the assassin inadvertently leads the group to a room filled with gold and seemingly valuable magical items. Other than the gold that Meme can use to pay for her elephant, the magical deck of cards seems to be the most enticing!

 

9/8/2019
38. DDD Working for a Living, Part 6

The girls go right this time and delve deeper into the dungeons underneath the Temple of Bahamut. The find different traps this time, and they also find the body of a Miam city guard. Knowing that they are now on the right track, they keep moving and eventually run into a battle between a number of shadow demons and Sir Wyatt Class. It looks like Sir Wyatt is on his last legs and does his best to distract the demons while Gallexsy and Meme take care of the monsters. After a brief rest, and some awkward interactions (Wyatt is unsure if Gallexsy is actually smart enough to be a wizard), the group decides to continue on as they learned that Wyatt is trying to close a portal to the Abyss! Wyatt tells the girls that if they don’t close the portal, it will get bigger and more demons will come out potentially destroying all of Miam.

They move on and find the swirling burning portal just in time to see a large demon (a Glabrezu) step through the portal. The room also moves with other smaller demons that have already come through. The girls manage to kill the smaller demons in the room with the help of Gallexsy’s flesh corgi-golem, Boom, but the Glabrezu is too much for them to take on. They quickly devise a plan to push the demon back through the gate and attempt to close it. For a moment Gallexsy contemplates using her unicorn butt-backpack, since it’s a pocket to another dimension, and by throwing the backpack into the portal it would destroy both. But that choice was unacceptable and decides to try and banish the portal instead. However, needing the time to banish the portal, the demon needs to be kept at bay. Meme uses a grasping vine spell to pull the demon back through, but it breaks out of it each time. With the last of her magical power, Meme attempts the vine one last time, and this is just enough to hold the demon as Gallexsy completes the banishment! The portal closes right on two of the demon’s outstretched arms, severing them to land on the girls’ side of the portal, and trapping the rest of the Glabrezu in the Abyss.

 

8/18/2019
37. DDD Working for a Living, Part 5

Moments after being reunited with the girls, Dave collapses to the floor. The resurrection spell that brought Dave back from the dead was incredibly taxing and Dimitri, the cleric that performed the spell, tells Meme and Gallexsy that Dave must rest for a couple of days. Dimitri offers the temple as a place for him to rest. While Dave rests, Dimitri asks the girls if they would be willing to do a favor for him, and if so he would be willing to refund the 2,000 gold donation they gave for the resurrection services. The favor that Dimitri asks is for Gallexsy and Meme to go down under the temple into the dark dungeons. In these dungeons a knight named Sir Wyatt Clas took a group of soldiers to root out some trouble. Dimitri is not exactly sure what is down there, he just knows that Wyatt is long overdue.

The girls agree, and step down into the dark and winding tunnels of the dungeon. The group goes left at the first fork and encounter a room with an acid trap in it, which Gallexsy takes the brunt of the damage. Thankfully the group finds some healing potions in a treasure chest in this room. Soon after that the girls encounter a group of invisible demons that Meme is able to identify with a detect magic spell, but she manages to get herself trapped in the room with the demons, without Gallexsy. With some quick thinking Gallexsy dimension doors into the room and unless Boom, Gallexsy’s flesh golem/corgi. Meme turns into a giant scorpion and the three of them lay into the demons making short work of the creatures.

The group then comes to a dead end, and realize that they should have gone the other way in the dungeon.

 

6/16/2019
36. DDD Working for a Living, Part 4

The girls hastily stuff Dave’s body into their bag of holding, hoping to preserve it and keep it from being damaged further. Once the other musketeers find out what happen to Dave, Blondie volunteers to take the girls and Dave back to Mount Olympus in the Atlantean jet. Everyone else stays behind so that the jet can travel as quickly as possible.

At Mount Olympus, the musketeer head quarters, the girls track down Dave’s friend Ors, who is a cleric of Moradin. Sadly resurrection is beyond his abilities, but he does point them in the direction of Doc as she might be able to do something with the Atlantean technology (or at the very least point them in the right direction).

After talking with Doc the group comes up with two different option. First, they can try going to Dave’s old temple where he did his training and see if there is a cleric of Mishakal that has the ability to bring Dave back. Second, Doc is aware of clerics of Bahamut that would have the ability to bring Dave back. But they are located in the human city of Miam and typically charge large sums of gold for these kinds of services. The group, wanting to go with the more guaranteed option, decides to go to Miam and take out a loan of 2,000 gold from the Musketeers to cover the services.

Meme, Gallexsy, and Blondie then jet out to Miam and arrive there after a couple of hours. Blondie lands the jet outside of town to not frighten the residents. Meme then turns into a giant eagle and carries Gallexsy into the city, and using her eagle eyes is able to spot the large temple to Bahamut. Meme and Gallexsy land dexterously on the stairs leading to the front of the temple, and rush inside.

Once in the temple they meet a cleric named Dimitri. Dimitri is able to attempt the resurrection of Dave, and cautions that it’s not a guarantee to work. The soul must want to come back. There is also a charge of 2,000 gold, which the girls pay gladly, but the ceremony also requires a diamond worth at least 500 gold pieces. Thankfully, Meme’s helmet is covered in gems, and she is willing to part with one to complete the ritual.

After a tense hour of waiting, Dimitri appears in the doorway looking tired. Dimitri steps out of the way, and behind him stands an exhausted Dave. He gives a small smiles and says, “Hey girls.”

 

6/9/2019
35. DDD Working for a Living, Part 3

A large contingency of musketeers were sent after an evil vampire named Augustine Drayveden. The Musketeers assaulted her castle and fought with her minions, and even fought Drayveden as well; however, they were not able to finish the job. Dave, Meme, and Gallexsy are sent into the castle to look for the final lair of this dreaded vampire. After it was defeated, its mist form escaped the musketeers seeking the safety of its coffin where it could regenerate. Eventually the three musketeers find it, but they have to deal with some teleportation traps and magically appearing undead wights.

Boom accidentally gets transported away, and after a quick fight with a wight, the gang finds him in a nearby stone crypt, apparently unharmed. Boom breaks out of the stone crypt but behind him are a number of skeletons that make their way towards the group. Dave uses the spell Stone Shape to seal up the opening and allow the group to continue on unmolested.

Meme uses the spell Grasping Vine to lift everyone over the traps leading to Drayveden’s lair. Once there, the group cautiously opens her coffin and find it empty. It’s at this time that Gallexsy sees Drayveden’s misty shape forming behind the group. Meme summons a polar bear to fight along side her, and she uses a combination of spells and her own beast shape to attack the vampire. Gallexsy throws fire at the vampire, and is able to sculpt it around her friends so that only the vampire is hurt. Dave casts Guardian of Faith which is able to blast the vampire each round with radiant energy, preventing the vampire from regenerating its hit points. Boom also gets in on the action by slam attacking the vampire. However, part way through the battle Drayveden charms Gallexsy, taking her and Boom out of the fight. The vampire uses this as an opportunity to focus her attacks on Dave, and Gallexsy and Boom don’t do anything to prevent it. Swarms of bats also fly down from the ceiling nipping and biting at the heroes. Towards the end Drayvenden picks up Dave and drains him of his life, dropping his small lifeless body to the ground.

It’s at this time that Gallexsy, because of the shock of seeing her friend killed and the constant nipping from the bats, is able to snap out of the charm she was placed under. She raises her hands and blasts the vampire with Burning Hands, causing the vampire to turn into mist once more. Meme quickly changes back into her Elf form, and uses a gem from her Helm of Brilliance to cast Sunlight on the mist, destroying the vampire once and for all. However, the group quickly realizes that when someone is drained of their life-force like Dave was, no healing or potions will bring them back. Dave is dead.

 

5/5/2019
34. DDD Working for a Living, Part 2

Ian, the musketeer commander, leads the group back into the gnoll controlled town to try and get the Atlantean jet back. Meme uses her animal shape as a jackal to get back into town and see if she can find the gnoll leader that took the jewel that powers the jet. Gallexsy also turns invisible to help in the search. Eventually they find the leader, and he is wearing the jewel around his neck like a trophy. After being distracted by the hijinks of Gallexy being invisible, Meme is able to snatch the jewel from around the large gnoll’s neck.

Gallexsy uses dimension door to transport everyone back inside the castle walls where the jet was last seen. However, in doing so she had to transport everyone in her unicorn butt backpack again, and was not able to bring her pet golem Boom along in the spell. Back in the castle, Gallexsy quickly hops over the wall, twisting her ankle from the fall, and runs back to get Boom. Boom charges through the town towards her master, easily deflecting the non-magical attacks from the gnolls.

After being separated for a very short time, Gallexsy and Boom are reunited, make it back up on to the wall, and join the rest of the musketeers as they fly back towards Mount Olympus.

 

4/7/2019
33. DDD Working for a Living

This adventure opens with our heroes flying on the backs of Mount Olympus’ last remaining griffins. They are the last remaining because the rest are either out on other missions, or have been shot down by the thousands of gnolls that surround Ian and a small group of musketeers. Ian and his troops were successful in taking out another evil threat, but it was at the cost of getting trapped inside of a castle surrounded by thousands of blood thirsty gnolls! Doc enlists Meme, Gallexsy, and Dave and hatches a plan to have the group sky dive into the castle to hopefully reduce the risk of them getting shot out of the air.

The group leaps off of their griffins and aim their bodies towards the castle grounds just as the sun is starting to rise. Just feet away from slamming into the ground, Gallexsy casts feather fall and they all land softly on the ground, safely behind the castle walls.

Behind the walls of this almost deserted castle, the group finds a damaged Atlantean jet. It appears that Ian came here on the jet with the other musketeers, but someone did something to it preventing it from being able to fly. Inside the castle are found about six musketeers, three village survivors, and a tied up demon cultist. Blondie, the tinker gnome tells the group how he managed to jury rig the Atlantean jet to run off of a magic gem, but the gem was stolen by a very large gnoll, who is probably the leader of all the gnolls trying to get into the castle. The group also notices that Ian is on the ground unconscious and missing a leg.

The gnolls pile on top of each other outside the walls and manage to reach the top. Gallexsy repels many of them with her magic. Meme uses Clarence, her summoned dinosaur, and herself in polar bear form to strike out at the gnolls. Dave also helps with his pistols and some magic blasts of his own. Some of the other musketeers weren’t as successful. While the group as a whole was able to repel the gnoll attack, three more musketeers perished.

Dave helps Blondie retrieve Ian’s leg, and with the healing power of Mishakal he is able to reattach it and bring Ian back to good health. Ian gives them the entire story of how they got to be there and the challenges they would face in getting out. Meme devises a plan of escape. While it’s unfortunate that they lost a number of musketeers in the last wave of gnolls, they now have just enough room on Meme’s back as a giant eagle, and in Gallexsy’s bag of holding (her unicorn butt back pack) to get everyone out of the castle by air.

Shockingly, the group is able to fly out of the castle without getting shot down by the gnolls, and the group lands safely just outside of the town.

 

3/24/2019
32. DDD Olympus Interlude 2

Back in Mount Olympus, a lot has changed for our heroes. The group gets a week of downtime in Olympus and spends the time shopping, exploring, and talking to folks on what has changed since they’ve been gone. The first big change is that Dwarven soldiers from the Fireforge nation have moved into the Musketeers’ headquarters and have erected a small fortress around the entrance to Mount Olympus. Once the group explains that they are Meme, Gallexsy and Dave, the three musketeers, they are let in very quickly. Other visual changes are that there are just more dwarves everywhere in Olympus now, greatly outnumbering the Musketeers. After speaking with Doc, the leader of the Musketeers, the group gets more information on what King Fireforge did to help set up the Musketeers, and is now coming in with his soldiers to wield more influence - specifically to make sure that the dwarves are getting a good share of the gold and magical items that the Musketeers come across. This wasn’t much of an issue until recently when the Musketeers were made flush with the gold and magical items of the Elven kingdom after Gallesxy, Dave and Meme dispatched the ancient black dragon Eltor. After the realization that the dwarves would be very interested in the magical axe the group had used to get home, Dave rushes back to his quarters to realize where he had carelessly stored the axe and finds that someone has taken it.

During this week, the group also finds out that they’ve actually been gone for about a 3 month period, and a lot of people thought that they had abandoned them, but Jed kept saying that they would be back. Jed (the now older Jed) greets and hugs all of them warmly when he first sees them. The group also takes a trip down to the dungeons to talk with “Rusty”, or at least the thing in the dungeons that was posing as Rusty. It turns out that this creature is a Doppelganger that was impersonating the dwarf Rusty, and was sent by Christopherson to spy on the group.

During their shopping trips, Meme gets a pet chicken, that she names Mr. Bokbok. Gallexsy gets a pet Corgi that she names Abbey. Dave buys a couple of magical potions. Also during the week, Gallexsy manages to put together some dead body parts of corgis and other dogs that she uses to make a flesh golem she names “Boom” (after the boom of electricity needed to bring the stitched together pile of flesh to life).

 

1/27/2019
31. DDD Out in the Cold, Part 10

Continuing down the miles of stairs on Zelane’s side of the mountain, the group finds Jink again. After some back and forth, everyone decides to continue on with the previous agreement since Jink knows the quickest way down to the treasure room. Leading the group through the mountain, and some cold weapon forges as Zelane has apparently lost interest in them, Jink brings our heroes to the fabled treasure horde of Zelane the Fire Giant.

Using the keys and mage hand, Gallexsy gets the doors open and the group sneaks inside before they are discovered by the roving packs of guards. Inside the group is met with piles of gold, weapons, armor, and magical items. Sitting in the middle, on a large heap of treasure, sits an oversized elaborate battle axe. This is the magical relic believed to be able to bring the group home through space and time.

Dave manages to grab the axe, but Meme can’t help herself and grabs a cloak from a nearby pile of treasure. This causes some coins to shift and growls are heard coming out of the dark. The group also realizes that this treasure room has been covered with an anti-magic field, so their spells will not work on whatever is growling at them. Jink conveys to the group how he had forgotten about the Guard Drakes that the main villain Christopherson had given to Zelane. The Guard Drakes are a sort of black dragon/dog hybrid, and they slink out of the darkness to take care of the intruders.

After a mad dash for the door, and some quick use of their pistols, the three musketeers and young Jed manage to get out of the treasure room with the magical axe. They dispatch the rest of the Guard Drakes with their now accessible magic. It’s at this time that they get surprised by a large bellow from the other side of the cavern. Zelane the Fire Giant screams at them in fury and charges at them. Zelane is not quite what the group expected, seeing as he has also been turned into a 18 foot tall vampire!

Gallexsy is able to cast her fear spell on Zelane, and surprisingly it works and sends him howling in the other direction. This gives the group just enough time to say goodbye to young Jed, and to activate the magical axe. After a magical flash, the group finds themselves back on top of Mount Olympus, only to be confronted by six dwarven guards that lower their weapons at them.

 

1/13/2018
30. DDD Out in the Cold, Part 9

While everyone else runs away from the fire giant Hagitha (especially their paid guide, Jink), Gallexsy stays behind and tries to talk to the giant. Hagitha reveals that there is something wrong with Zelane, and it’s caused by a creature named Christopherson. A name that the musketeers have heard a number of times leading up to this. The black dragon Eltor mentioned how Christopherson was responsible for bringing him out of his slumber. After not liking some of Gallexsy’s answers, and obviously not a fan of chips and salsa, Hagitha charges at Gallexsy with two gigantic shields filled with fiery embers!

Gallexsy turns on her heel and runs for her life. Meme casts her grasping vine spell to slow Hagitha down in the hall, and the group manages to get out of her lair and back to the mammoth stair case leading down. They get a large enough lead that they are able to hide in Gallexsy’s magical tiny hut. Hagitha sees them from up above and starts to throw boulders at them. Seeing that she’s not able to hit them from that far away, she charges down without her shields.

Dave is able to wound Hagitha with his guardian of faith spell, and this encourages the group that they may be able to take her. Charging out of the tiny hut, the group jumps the giant and are able to take her down, and keep her from falling down the stair well. They are able to get their hands on the giant key to Zelane’s treasure hold, which is supposed to hold a magical item that can send our three heroes home.

 

12/26/2018
29. DDD Out in the Cold, Part 8

The group follows a snowy path through the mountains and comes to a familiar door: a wide low door that looks like it was made for a large number of dwarves to march through, but this door is closed and locked. Searching the area, Gallexsy finds the dragonborn guard that she had scared away earlier in the guard tower. He was hiding in a small cave next to the door. His name is Jink, and he offers aid to the group if they are willing to pay. Jink shows them that the key to get in is to be a dwarf, so he shows them where they keep a magically preserved frozen dwarf to open the door.

Once inside, the group makes another deal with Jink to show them around inside the mountain, for more gold of course. Jink doesn’t seem to be the most trustworthy of people, but as long as there is gold involved he seems willing to help, and it doesn’t put himself into too much danger.

He leads the musketeers down another large spiral stair case in this mountain. A ways down they come to an odd landing that looks like a modification to the stone work not done by dwarven hands, that leads to a large tunnel. Intense heat waifs from the tunnel. Jink explains that this is where Hagitha is stationed. Hagitha is Zelane’s right-hand woman, and is a powerful fire giant that guards this area of the mountain. The group decides to move on, but then double backs when Jink lets it slip that she has keys the keys to Zelane’s treasure room.

The group sneaks into her lair, with their movements and sounds masked by Meme’s Pass Without a Trace spell. They find the fire giant napping in a large chair in front of a blazing hearth. Gallexsy is able to use mage hand to pick-pocket a key off of Hagitha. She does it again to get a second key. But on the third key, Hagitha awakens and screams in fury!

 

11/18/2018
28. DDD Out in the Cold, Part 7

We pick up right where we had left off at the top of the guard tower. Dave and Gallexsy pursued the last guard to the top of the tower where he locked himself behind a trap door. Eventually Gallexsy is able to talk him into opening the door, but when Dave looks in, the guard tries to spring a surprise attack. Dave is too quick for him and is able to roll into the room and knock the guard unconscious.

At the same time, the guard that Gallexsy had banished returns, and he charges up the stairs to help the other guard. The second guards slashes out at Gallexsy and hurts her quite badly. Gallexsy then casts fear on the guards, causing him to drop his weapon and run away screaming for his life.

Searching the now guard less tower, the group finds an old rotted dwarven body on the parapet of the tower. The body looked like the dwarf had died at his post. The dwarf was from a long forgotten kingdom and clan.

Jed is able to cross the bridge with the groups ponies and meets back up with them in the tower. Having everyone across the ravine, they are now finally to head into the fire giant Zelane’s side of the mountain.

 

11/18/2018
27. DDD Out in the Cold, Part 6

Gallexsy manages to fly Meme (as a bunny) and Dave across the ravine and land next to the guard tower unseen. There is a puzzle to unlock the door that Gallexsy unintentionally completes very quickly, and the trio sneak inside. Once inside the tower, they easily find the lever that controls the bridge and immediately send it into motion. The movement of the bridge causes cacophonous clanks to ring out across the tower and the mountain. This draws the attention of the guards inside the tower. The group quickly hides and then realizes that there are only two red dragon born guards that are in the tower.

The group tries parlaying with the guards, but this goes south very quickly as the group wasn’t as charming as they would have hoped. Gallexsy uses a banishment spell on one of the guards, and the other guard dashes back up the stairs moving up the tower.

After turning the bridge back on, Dave takes off running in hot pursuit, with Gallexsy not far behind. Meme, still in bunny form, hops behind not seemingly into too much of a hurry to catch up. Dave and Gallexsy use spells to try and stop or slow the guard down, but he’s able to get away from at the last minute.

 

10/7/2018
26. DDD Out in the Cold, Part 5

The group heads to the underdark away from the dragonborn village. Young Jed takes them through multiple caves and passages to an ancient entrance that appears to be carved by dwarves. It's covered by depictions of dwarves fighting other dwarves on it. Once in the entrance, Jed notices that the other side of the room has been caved in. Before the group can escape Dave accidentally triggers a trap and the trio is sealed inside!

Poisonous gas pumps into the room. Meme quickly decides to plug the holes on the statues in the room. There are just enough of them to get to each statue and plug the holes. One small problem is that Dave is too short to reach all the holes on his statue. Gallexsy acts quickly and uses mage hand to plug the last hole on Dave's statue. The pressure of the gas builds up and causes the walls and doors to crack open, and the group quickly escapes.

Left with only one other way to get to the other side of the mountain, Jed takes the group up and up to what he refers to as the stairs. A large circular stair case that is two miles straight up is what the group has to contend with. Doing some smart planning, Meme turns into a bunny and hops into Gallexsy's arms. Gallexsy casts fly on Jed, who carries Dave, and the entire group is able to fly to the top of the stairs and the mountain.

Now on the top of the frozen mountain, the group heads out into snow drifts and biting wind. They finally come to a large ravine who's bottom is lost thousands of feet below in mist and snowy wind. On the other side of the ravine is what looks like some sort of mechanical contraption for a bridge, and a large tower that controls it. The tower is where Jed says the Fire Giant's guards will be. That is where the Dreadnaughts will be watching.

 

9/9/2018
25. DDD Out in the Cold, Part 4

Thinking fast, Gallexsy uses mage hand to poke the Otyugh in the eyes and startles it out of its hiding place. Meme and her summoned beast, both in the form of a dinosaur, attack the Otyugh but immediately get wrapped up in the tentacles of the beast. Dave and Gallexsy join in the fight, but notice that Jed is not participating. Jed calmly stands back and watches how the group does, justifying that it’s their job and he wants to see what the group can do.

After struggling a little bit, and a few too many mage hands, the group finally takes down the Otyugh. Jed comes out and congratulates the group, and that is when a second Otyugh ambushes Jed from behind with a tentacle wrapping around his neck and lifting his kicking body into the air. The group doesn’t hold anything back this time and kills the second creature, but not before Jed takes a vicious bite to the side.

Having cleared the sunlit area of the monsters, the dragonborn villages should now be able to use the area for farming. And Jed will then be able to guide them to the other side of the mountain. Jed thanks the group for saving his life and expresses that he would be honored to show them the way and hopefully help the gang get back home.

 

9/9/2018
24. DDD Out in the Cold, Part 3

After staying the night at Greethen’s house, the dragon born’s mushroom farmer, the gang heads further into the city to attend the city council where the elder dragon born will decide if they should help the three musketeers or not. When they arrive, they see that both Greethen and Tarhun are on the council, along with one other silver dragon born.

Gallexsy refuses to be helpful, and Dave has to listen to most of the meeting in draconic. From what he can gather, Tarhun and the silver dragon born are all for helping, especially since the group slayed the basilisk that was taking the village’s pigs. But then Greethen decides something else. This is when the group learns that the silver dragon born is Patrin, and his daughter was turned to stone by the basilisk. Patrin will now be able to restore her back to life since the basilisk was butchered and the beast’s stomach was salvaged to make a magical potion. However, this is also when the group learns that Greethen doesn’t expect the trio of heroes to survive the trip to the other side of the mountain and convinces everyone that we should get one more favor out of the group before they are sent to their deaths.

Our heroes are asked to slay another monster, a monster that has taken over an area of the village called “the sunlight.” This is an area that receives sunlight from the surface and is perfect for real farming. If Meme, Gallexsy, and Dave are able to kill the monster, called an Otyugh, then the village can use the area for farming and grow some real food. Meme agrees when it’s hinted that they might not be able to handle the challenge. Then, to Jed’s surprise, he’s volunteered by the council to lead the three musketeers to the sunlight and defeat the monster.

Jed agrees, even though he’s bleary eyed from losing a night’s sleep slaughtering the basilisk and pig, and leads the group on their ponies to the sunlight. It’s here that Meme sends in her summoned dinosaur, Clarence, to check out the area. While Clarence is in the sunlit area, something moves slightly and starts to track the dinosaur. While at first it looked like a vine, the thing slowly opens to reveal it’s lined with razor sharp claws, and has three large blinking eyes in the middle of it.

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