Story So Far - The Blooded

This chapter of the story has ended, but the adventure continues.

IV - Plans Most Demonic and Diabolic

Denouement

TODO flesh out

Our heroes, in a hidden cove just outside of Tholdur, uncovering a diabolic plot

Garakiel begins ranting about all the different things the Blooded has done to thwart him

cannons fired, Garakiel and his crew decimated

much rejoicing

Days turn to Months turn to Years

Uthal returns home, to the mountains of Bata. Reconnected with old friends, found some lost treasure, rescued some damsels (NOTE not in distress)

Andarielle tried to tell people things and they didn't believe her. Persistence led to a lot of bar fights and trouble

Valardin went back to the Temple of Baphomet and converted the region into a holy sight for Melora. It is now a wildlife refuge.

Laria made a pilgrimage to Thios to the temple of Pelor. She learned how to use his light to harm evil as much as heal.

Falstas left to find his father's ship. He has not been heard from since.

a new friend Noname met the Blooded at a tavern. Overhearing someone needed help, he joined up in the quest, and has been a stalwart companion since.

Session 14

TODO flesh out

Our heroes, in the sewers under Tholdur, fighting some slavers

last 2 remaining try to get away on a small boat

Valardin turn into a bull and destroy the boat

Andarielle shoots the lizard so they can't swim away

Falstas does some good talky talks and convinces the slavers to open up

learn the situation

tiefling leader here Stash

have been smuggling frowned-upon items (hard drugs, cursed items, poisons, etc)

operation has been going on for over a decade with his brother Stow, but always kept under the radar

about a month ago, this devil Garakiel shows up and convinces us to start working for him. Big payout if we get him a half-dozen slaves in a month.

Didn’t sit right with me, but brother Stow has always been into the diabolical shit. Reclaiming the glory of the fallen Bael Turath empire or some nonsense. And only this one job, then we would be set for life

so we started snatching people to give to this devil.

have a hidden cove just outside the city, can only access by boat

decide to pretend to be slaves, Stow take them to Rak

Andarielle pretending to be slaver

cast of unseen servant, to carry all the weapons after people are off the boat

Falstas and Laria talking to Stash, realize he is a fanatic and can't hugely be reasoned with

it kinda is going well, until unseen servant knocks the maul into a cannon

Stash stabs Stow, fighty fight

Stow deals killing blow to Stash

Uthal very handedly takes a lot out

prep to ambush Rak as his boat comes in

man some cannons to ambush

let dock, plan to blow Garakiel’s head off when see him

Garakiel comes off pissy and ranting

fire ze cannons

Session 13

When presented with a hole, clearly the correct response is to dive in vigorously. Our heroes do just that, heedless of how dry and musty of a hole it must be. They see an ancient temple with demon symbols, and sense magics of stasis and repose. Inside they meet and aged minotaur waking from his meditation. He speaks of trials and battle, blood and carnage, the power of Baphomet waiting for any mighty enough to take it. Our heroes decide they don't want any part of this, so they leave and collapse the entrance back to how it was.
One nagging issue though: the slaves have been saved, but based on the reports from the city guard there should have been more. None of those freed were aware of others, though, so no choice but to head back to the city. And as luck would have it, another kidnapping happened while the party was away. This one was sloppy enough to leave witnesses, reports of regular non-demonic humanoids dragging a person down into the sewers. With some slight hesitation on the smell, time to delve into another hole.
The party sees a smuggling operation recently and haphazardly converted to humanoid trafficking. But unlike the other slavers, these are headed by a devil instead of demons. Our heroes take out the fiend, but the lackeys load up on a boat to try and escape.

Session 12

The Blooded have found the slaver's camp, and are able to bluff their way into the gates. Our heroes fight off guards and demons, all while freeing the slaves and arming them to aid in the revolution. These freed head back to the city while the party heads deeper to the dig site.
They try to same trickery to get into the dig site, but it is much less effective this time. The party downs the leader, who also just so happened to be the one holding the metaphorical summoned leash on these demons. Unshackled, they decided to start killing slaves and indulging in wonderful carnage. The party quickly takes out the fiends, saving (most of) the slaves and sending them back to the city.
But one question remains: into the recently-unearthed hole?

Session 11

After depositing Anjino in a mental health facility, Our Heroes get recruited for tracking down the slavers. Dissapearances started about a year ago, but no bodies were ever found. As well, the people taken were all those who tend to not be missed, so the guards haven't made this a priority. That is, until this last month, when it seems the slavers have gone into overdrive with their kidnapping.
The way they know this is slavers, one of the victims actually escaped and came back a couple weeks ago. He was taken in the middle of the night by a horrendous creature and loaded into a cart. The kidnappers talked about "the dig" and how the victims were going to work until they finally found it. But on the way out of town the cart was attacked, and he escaped in the confusion.
Asking around about this grotesque being, the party is told about an abandoned museum. No one has been seen there in over a year, but there are quite disturbing things there. The party goes to check it out and run into a few people. After a quick battle (before which they pretended to be government census people), the party interrogates one of the poeple and learns about a demonic plot. Over a year ago, the proprietor of the museum uncovered the location to a Temple of Baphomet nearby, and summoned demons to help uncover it. They have been "recruiting" locals to help with the archaeological effort.
The party heads to the dig and see a small encampment at the entrance to a canyon. They scout around and see demons and slaves, and decide to charge in.

III - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Tholdur

Session 10

Our Heroes are still captured by Anjino, but they immediately start looking for a way to escape. They examines the automatons and takes out a few of their gem batteries, while moving the still-arcing robots into the puddle of water. This shorts out electronics hidden in the column, giving our heroes an idea. Working together, the party arranges the remaining robots around the room and sends a large burst of lighting through all of the columns. Much larger automatons come crashing down the centers of the columns, revealing lift devices inside.
The party climbs their new-found escape route and confront Anjino in his bed. They learn about a month ago a traveller came through and met with Anjino (similar description to a merchant who came through Rainbow Minerals Mine about a month before the party). This person convinced Anjino that the end of the world is imminent, and he was creating these robot warriors as a means to defend himself after the apocalypse. Realizing his mind is broken, the party decides to bring Anjino with them to get help in Tholdur.
As the party nears the city they are stopped by guards. These trigger-happy enforcers see a tied-up Anjino and believe the party to be the slavers they have been trying to find. After some blows are exchanged, our heroes explain the situation, and an apologetic guard squad escorts the party to the big city.

Session 9

Continuing their journey to Tholdur, the party come to a collapsed cave entrance blocking the road. A caravan has stopped as they try to figure out the best way to proceed, not seeing the approaching storm. Uthal and Andarielle get the people organized and work tirelessly to clear the rubble and get the wagons to safety. They are rewarded with a small ivory statue for their troubles.
The travel through the caves is uneventful, and our heroes emerge to a cloudy day made all the more dim by the dense forest canopy. They come across a couple travelling merchants, who enlist the party to find their friend. Benji was supposed to meet up with them hours ago, after he made a quick stop to a regular that lives nearby. The party finds a horse and wagon outside of the isolated cabin and are welcomed in by an aging gnome. Anjino offers tea and crumpets as he professes to not have seen Benji. Our heroes begin feeling woozy and pass out, just as they see Benji's pack stashed in a closet.
We cut back to a few hours ago to see Faku on his wagon approaching Anjino's cabin. Ilmater gave guidance that Faku would be needed, and Faku also talked with the merchants and is trying to find Benji. And like the other Blooded, Faku was put to sleep.
All wake up in a cold stone room. As they talk and get their bearings, a large green gem lights up on the ceiling. Anjino welcomes everyone and thanks them for "volunteering" to help test out his creations. He then dumps waves of automatons into the room for the party to fight. Benji goes down, but Faku helps them with a potion. As the party seems about to fall, Anjino stops the experiment for the day. Wouldn't want to kill the test subjects, now would we?

Session 8

Our heroes begin their journey to Tholdur as a storm hits. They cross the mountain with a bit of difficulty, but eventually make it to the nice weather on the other side. Walking along the coast, they hear sounds of a struggle.
The party crests a hill and sees a massive kraken corpse sprawled across the beach. A tribe of bullywugs are exploring the debris of a wrecked ship, much to the protest of Circos who lays injured on the ground. Uthal and Valardin scare away the mob while Andarielle takes out their leader with a single shot. Laria rushes over and heals the captain, bringing them shakily to their feet. They explain that the kraken came out of nowhere, and all their crew and his ship were lost taking out the monster.
As they talk, they realize they have lost something. They explain that the best way to return home is with an ancient heirloom, a ring forged of pure wind. It must be in that things gullet. As payment for retrieving the ring, the party can keep everything else they loot around here. Whatever remains of the ship and its cargo, its yours.
In the belly of the beast, our heroes nimbly avoid diving into the acid. They valliantly struggle against various oozes and slimes, fighting off the parasites and recovering many items of value (including the rock Uthal traded away). We end as our heroes return Circos's ring and wave farewell.

II - The Mushrooms, the Devil, and the Mines

Session 7

Into the depths go our heroes, to find a fellow adventuring party lost in Rainbow Minerals Mine. After a short while they come to the far tendrils of the mine, which has recently crossed over a small underground river. In the halls are growing beautiful glowing mushrooms, which are most likely toxic. Uthal breaks apart some barrels and mine carts, then builds a raft under the guidance of the others.
They float around a corner and see a small shore filled with more mushrooms. Laria recognizes the ones that are moving as Myconids, sentient magical mushroom people from the Feywild. Our heroes rush in and take out this pod before they can warn the rest deeper in the cave. Valardin shifts into a mouse to sneak around and scout, shifting into bear form to take out other sentries.
Its not long until all that is left of the myconids are a handful in what looks like a throne room, surrounding a pile of dead bodies and nurturing the mushrooms growing thereon. The party rushes forward but are suddenly thrown off when they here the voice of the fungal sovereign in their minds. The party sees a familiar grief in the king's mouthless face and decide to talk rather than fight. After intense negotiation, the myconids agree to not expand their territory anymore provided the miners do not encroach further. Our heroes are allowed to take the effects of the other adventuring party to "return to the families", leaving the bodies to serve as nursery for the myconid offspring.
The party returns to the surface and informs Folami of the fate of the adventuring party. He tentatively agrees to not drill anymore towards the myconids, but is sceptacle of any such peace.
Regardless, it is no longer the concern of The Blooded. Their job here complete, it is time to move on. Perhaps Tholdur will have available work.

Session 6

The Blooded plan their attack on Gnuz and his device. Valardin will turn into a ram and Falstas will chase him in a loud and distracting manner. Taking advantage of this diverted attention, Andarielle will sneak up a side slope to loose an arrow. Uthal and Laria will lie in wait close to the stairs, ready to charge in.
Most of the plan goes well, though Andarielle's arrow misses the mark. Our heroes charge in as Gnuz activates the mostly-finished device. The battle is short but grueling, the party making short work of the imp and his minions. Turning their attention to the device, Falstas and Laria are able to shut it down before it can fully power up. They study the runes, learning it in some way creates a tether to the Elemental Chaos to the material plane and "pulls it closer". While not fully understanding what this means, all are agreed this would be bad.
Returning to town, the party enjoy some much-needed ale. They find Folami Gravelbraids and inform him of Tekmum's death and the device. Folami will inform Tekmum's family in the morning, as well as send some of his techs to look into this device. Business concluded, Falstas and Uthal find some local company to enjoy for the evening. In Andarielle's pursuits, she comes across a person acting suspicious and sinister, overly eager to include Andarielle in some "dream deal". Laria helps in shooing away the odd person, and they mention they can find someone else to help with their ritual. The party calls it a night.
The next morning, Folami pays the party the promised reward for dealing with the theft problem. However, he now has a new job: the adventuring party that went into the depths of the mine a couple nights ago has not returned, and none of the miners have seen any trace of them.
We end as our heroes plans their descent.

Session 5

Night has fallen as we open on the scene. Our heroes are staking out the entrance to Rainbow Minerals Mine, hoping to catch the thief or thieves. Hours pass without event, until Andarielle gives some critical advice to Uthal to check out one of the storage containers. Uthal sees something odd: periodically a gem will hover out of the container, then quickly disappear. She lets the others know this strange going on, and the party charges the invisible pilferer.
There is a short short chase until the invisible person trips. Uthal is quick to descend on them and with one blow of her hammer the would-be villain is no more. The invisibility fades away and we see a small gnome woman sprawled across the ground. Realizing they need to interrogate this person, Falstas heals her real quick.
With some smooth and calming words from Falstas we learn the woman, Tekmum, has been stealing for the devil Gnuz. She is shifty as to the how Gnuz was summoned, but the devil threatened to kill everyone and burn down the town if Tekmum didn't steal tools and gems and ore. Gnuz gifted her rituals that help her stay hidden and a Bag of Holding for carrying what she steals, and for the past month she has been doing what she can. She doesn't know what any of this is used for, she just brings what she steals to the ruined fort just outside town and leaves it for Gnuz at dawn.
The party keeps the ritual book and Bag of Holding, but send Tekmum away with a bloodied dagger and a handful of gems. The idea is she can return to Gnuz and tell a story about how she did her best but was confronted by adventurers. Hopefully Gnuz will accept this story and not burn down the town...
The party then sets up camp to talk with Folami in the morning. They are awakened by a slightly irate dwarf (they had set up camp in the middle of the work zone), and then proceed to explain what they found. Folami congratulates them on figuring this out, but it seems now the job has become to kill this devil. He will give them a day's head start before he lets the other adventuring groups know. As the party heads off to the ruins, we see one of the other adventuring groups returning from town, clearly not having found out anything.
The old fort is serene and almost picturesque as the party approaches. But no sounds of a devil, or really anything at all. Our heroes cautiously approach, and enter to find recent destruction. The walls black with a burned soot, the smell of sulfur in the air. And Tekmum, lying dead on the ground, clearly poisoned with imp venom. Our heroes spend a little time morning this death and paying respects; Falstas pulls out a medallion to the Raven Queen and gives a short prayer, while Uthal and Andarielle build a small cairn.
Burning for vengeance, the party looks around for what information they can glean. On the floor they find the remnants of a magical circle, roughly a month old. With some studying, the party sees that the summoning part works just fine, but the part designed to bind the devil is wrong in crucial ways. Then they find a trail leading into the mountains and are off.
Night falls as our heroes climb ever higher. The trees become sparse and make way for snow. Heedless of the bitter cold, the party plows onward. They crest a crag to see Gnuz building some strange device, surrounded by over a dozen animated armor lending him aid.
We fade out as our heroes plan their approach.

Session 4

We return to our heroes, passengers on The Vengeful Storm. This ship picked up multiple groups of adventurers to bring to a mine on the northern shore of Nathair, in hopes of solving a thieving problem. But such passage is not free; the captain trades in story and sentiment. Uthal gave up a special rock to which she felt great attachment, a sufficient price to pay.
We see our heroes cooking dinner for everyone aboard, a much appreciated kindness they volunteered to do. Suddenly, a storm bears down on the ship and it is all hands on deck. Uthal helps with the ropes, Andarielle sprints below deck to batten down the cargo. Valardin manages the food. Laria keeps everyone calm and focused. Despite bouts of bad luck all around, the ship is eventually able to pull through the storm and make it to the Rainbow Minerals Mine.
The ship drops anchor and the longboats are taken to shore. We see massive machinery at the entrance to the mine, old and in need of repair but still functional. The various adventuring parties meet with Folami Gravelbraids. He informs everyone that supplies and gems and have gone missing in the night, but despite their best efforts they can't figure out what is happening. There is no evidence of anyone coming or going, our watch doesn't see anyone, there are no prints in the sand, nothing. Whichever party can catch the thief will be rewarded handsomely, and the rest of the adventurers will be payed the standard minimum rate for their efforts.
Laria notices an anxious gnome pushing a cart out of the mine. After talking for a bit and calming his nerves, he speaks of fabled monsters of the deep. Boogeymen from childrens' stories, who would snatch the unwary who travel too deep in the caves. While the gnome has not seen any such creatures, he is afraid that the stories are true and something is coming out from the depths in the cave...
Our heroes decide to set a stakeout and ambush whatever is stealing the gear. Of the other adventuring parties, one decides to spend the night in a nearby village and ask around the people there, and one decides to dive right into the mine and see what they find.
May the best adventurers win.

I - Danger Room

Session 3

Our Party ventures into the cave. They are ambushed at the entrance and harried by enemies who strike then shrink to the shadows. Uthal charges in and smashes heads, Valardin turns into a bear and rends the foes apart, Falstas bolsters the party and hinders the enemy, and Laria keeps everyone alive through it all.
After moments of tense battle, a roar bellows from deeper in the cave. Buphial Icebreath has awoken and is not please be the intrusion. The fight rages on, our heroes spending themselves as much as they can to keep the young dragon at bay. Who will win? Who will perish?
We fade out from this epic story to the hold of a ship. Our heroes have been recounting the tale of their past deeds to this crew, on a journey to more adventure.

Session 2

Falstas, Andarielle, and Uthal have scouted ahead of the rest of the party. They follow the fleeing bandit to his camp, just outside a cave near the base of a waterfall.
The leader of the camp is not at all pleased to hear of the road crew's failure, and even less pleased when an arrow pierces his shoulder and he realizes this peon stupidly led the adventurers to here. He calls out to alert Buphial and the bandits scatter, but our heroes block their escape and dispatch all of them. However, the battle was loud, and we hear a battle horn from the darkness.
We fade out on these three waiting for the rest of their party to arrive before diving in.

Session 1

We open on our heroes fulfilling a straightforward contract: bandits have been plaguing the roads and need to be taken out. Falstas and Uthal boldly stroll down the road in an effort to draw out and distract the prey, while Andarielle, Valardin, and Laria stalk through the trees.
The bandits ambush our travellers, while our hunters ambush those remaining hidden. The battle is relatively swift as the practiced hands of our adventurers make quick work of the job. They talk of fleeing and getting the boss, and our heroes allow one to get away to do just that.