Storm King's Thunder

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<h1 style="font-size: 60px; letter-spacing: -0.032em;">Storm King's Thunder</h1>
<br/><h2>Campaign Log</h2>
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<img src="https://i.ibb.co/mzpry7J/sktcover-sketched-viniette.png" style="width:100%; margin-bottom: 50px"/>

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#### _A recap of the misadventures of 4 or 5 would-be heroes, as told from the perspective of their <span style="font-size: 0.9em;">DM</span>_
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# Session 1
###### _June 1, 2019_

The 12th day of The Summertide, 1487 DR, The Year of the Rune Lords Triumphant, our heroes of Faerun met for the first time traveling the High Road.  A motley crew, Sydney Stormborn, the resourceful changeling rouge disguised for the moment as a halfing, Thorin Warhammer II, a stout but nimble dwarf barbarian, Jack of Fables, a peaceful traveling human bard, Roland Deschain, a firearm-wielding wood elf ranger, and Ebonomous, the argumentative yet apathetic human sorcerer, had all been separately traveling for days before stopping at a quaint little roadside inn, Maudry's Inn & Tavern, all on the same evening.

### Maudry's Inn & Tavern

There they were welcomed in and, by happenstance, seated together at a single table by Maudry Moongleam, the owner and proprietor of the tavern.  She liked the cut of their jib, and gave them one free round of ales, on the house, but the sly rouge tried to swindle a second, and pin the tab on the table behind them, upon which they had eavesdropping.  This provoked the ire of a thick-necked patron named Brojoe, and nearly resulted in out heroes starting off their adventure by fighting a group of innocent locals before their quest had even begun.  But Jack, opposed to violence, persuasively de-escalated the situation. Maudry, displeased with their behavior and lack of gratitude, politely asked the group to leave the establishment and not come back.

The heroes then began considering the rumors they had each picked up while in the tavern, having overheard conversation about a settlement called Nightstone, just off the High Road, north of their position.

There was a rumor that the High Steward of Nightstone, Lady Velrosa Nandar, is reportedly offering a reward to anyone willing and able to deal with a recent goblin threat.  It was also heard that Nightstone is a popular retreat for wealthy nobles who wish to hunt in the Ardeep Forest, and that adventurers can earn good money by offering their services as guards on a hunt.

The group decided then and there to set off together, to seek fortune, adventure, and opportunity in the woodland village.

### The Village of Nightstone
Once the group arrived at Nightstone, they noticed that things seemed... off.  Firstly, that the drawbridge was down and the temple's bell kept ringing incessantly, but that the village appeared to be otherwise deserted.  They entered the gates to see that large boulders had devastated the buildings in the village.

Immediately, they were met by two fierce worgs in the town square, and their first battle ensued.  The worgs proved to be a formible foes, but together, the party was able to kill one.  Unfortunately, the second worg responded with a mighty howl to call for backup, and three goblins joined the battle, emerging from nearby buildings.  The remaining worg and the goblins were easily dispatched by our heroes, except Filk, who escaped their grasp.  It was around that time that Ebonomous, the argumentative sorcerer, decided he had no desire to continue adventuring with this lot, and bailed, never to be heard from again. Meanwhile, after the fight, Sydney began collecting the teeth of his vanquished foes.

The party proceeded to sneak into the village's Temple to investigate the nonstop bell ringing, and found two goblins swinging gleefully from the bell rope.  They quickly killed both, but not before interrogating one of them to learn that the goblins occupying the town all came from the nearby Dripping Caves, sent by their goblin boss, Hark, to loot the already abandoned town after its villagers deserted it.  The group then ventured in the graveyard next to the temple and found a hostile specter, which took down Roland Deschain, who failed 1 death save before the party could destroy it.  Searching the graveyard, they found a tomb marked "Lord Nandar" and desecrated it (it now reads "Lord Nandap").  Sydney found a signet ring on the corpse, but couldn't remove it, though he did commit the ring's symbol to memory to try to forge it later.

The group took a needed long rest in the Temple, preparing to explore more of the town the next morning.

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# Session 2
###### _June 29, 2019_

After long-resting in the Nightstone Temple, the party awoke to the smell of cooking bacon.  A human sorcerer by the name of Beuford Biggins, had cooked a good-will breakfast for the party and offered his magical services.  Together, they set to clearing the town of the goblin infestation.

### Kella Darkhope

After raising the drawbridge, the group searched the Nightstone Inn, where they encountered Kella Darkhope, a Zhentarim spy disguised as a visiting monk.  Through guile and charm, they extracted the truth about her visit and the Zhentarim's plans for the village of Nightstone: to convert it into a Black Network base.

<img src="https://i.ibb.co/hZLh1xg/kella-sketch.png" style="width: 170px; margin:0; float: right;" />The party came to terms with their new acquaintance, and agreed to rid the village of goblins for the Zhents, and Kella agreed to help them.  Maybe afterward, they would reassess their relationship... would they become enemies or allies? And how would the adventurers deal with the other Zhentarim, who were currently en route?

### Blunder in the Barn

The party spent the next... hour or so?... clearing but a single building: the Nandar Family Stables, eventually killing the 2 goblins they found inside.

But not without some anti-heroics from Roland, who critically failed to cast and his grappling hook onto a bail of hay to hoist himself to the barn's loft (albeit _right_ next to a perfectly good ladder).

While dangling upsidedown from his grappling hook rope, Roland watched as the rest of the party managed to fell the two goblins, set the barn on fire, put it out again, nobly free the Nandar's horses from a no-longer burning building, and even more nobly return the horses to said building before continuing on with their task.

### Jack and Jill
That is, all but Jack, the Bard, who, bored or indifferent to the party's motives, succeeded spectacularly in commandeering a fine horse, which he named Jill, and rode south toward the keep.  After trampling to unsuspecting goblins with pumpkins on their heads harmlessly playing tag in a wheat field, Jack & Jill charged up the seemingly impassible bridge and, Pegasus-style, flew over the 15 ft. gap, landing unscathed on the other side to cheers from the Keep's guards.  The guards invited Jack inside for rest and what food they could offer.

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### Nightstone Buildings
Systematically clearing each of the remaining structures in the village, the rest of the party did happen upon a few buildings of note:

The Lionshield Coster, one of a known franchise of trading posts on the Sword Coast, where the party raided the shelves for needed adventuring gear... the cottage of a protective Tiefling family which had a clear warning inscribed over the door in Infernal runes (Beuford was able to read them), which the party boldly ignored, picked the lock, and looted the home... and the cottage of the village's notary and record keeper, where Sydney procured documents about all the residents of Nightstone and began the effort of forging his own to fake his association with the village.

### The Broken Bridge
Having finally rid the Nightstone of goblins, the party headed for the bridge to the Keep to meet up with Jack.

The adventurers, still weary from exterminating goblins, now stands before a collapsed bridge spanning a dangerous-looking moat to reach the Nightstone Keep.  Kella Darkhope looks at the Keep, looks suspiciously at the broken bridge, and looks dubiously at Sydney.  She whispers to him, "My contact will be arriving any moment now.  Xolkin will certainly be pleased that we have cleared the town of goblins, but will no doubt still require our assistance in... 'dealing' with whatever force remains in the Keep.  When the time comes, I trust I can count on the help of you and your men?"

Can Sydney keep up the rouse? _Is it_ a rouse?  How will he sway the rest of the group to support the Zhentarim if that is indeed his intention?

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# Session 3
###### _July 13, 2019_

The party found themselves at the foot of a broken bridge to the Nightstone Keep, where their fellow adventurer, Jack of Fables, had already befriended the castle guards and been welcomed inside.  Casting a well-placed grappling hook, Roland Deschain gave the party a means of safely spanning the moat and meeting up with their trusty bard associate.

### The Nightstone Keep
They entered to find 4 remaining guards, demoralized and frustrated, lacking leadership, and at each others throats, unsure what to do after their matriarch, Lady Velrosa Nandar, was killed during the attack.  While the rest of the party gatherd all the information they could from the guards and offered to deliver a distress letter to the nearest allies, Sydney Stormborn became very interested in "analyzing" the body of the recently deceased Lady Nandar, lying atop a wooden table.  When confronted, the rogue claimed he was actually Lady Nandar's brother and demanded the guards stand aside. He then stormed upstairs, to protests from Torem, the wariest of the guards, but but Torem was foiled by Jack's quick thinking to case Dissonant Whispers on the lot of them, making the guards believe the ghost of Velrosa Nandar had returned from the dead to chastise them for their failure to protect her.

While Thorin, Beuford, and Roland raided the mostly destroyed kitchen for booze, Sydney furthered the ghostly rouse by morphing into the form of Lady Nandar and speaking to the horrified soldiers, and in the process, revealing to his party that he was not the Halfing they had come to believe he was, but a fabled "changleling".  Jack then followed Sydney upstairs to the Nandars' bedchamber just in time to see him morphing back into himself.

A search of the bedchamber revealed an unlocked chest and a longsword mounted above the door.  Upon opening the chest, Sydney was suddenly attacked by the enchanted sword.  But Thorin clomped into the room just in time to destroy the blade before it could actually hurt anyone.  Free to loot the chest, the party uncovered a sizable Nandar stash of gold and gems.

The party then opted to take a much deserved long rest in the guards' bunkhouse (during which they leveled up!) and were awakened when a guard called out that a mounted militia was approaching the village.  The adventurers climbed to the roof where they could see Kella Darkhope making her way to the drawbridge to lower it and let them in.  Obviously these were the Zhentarim associates she had spoken of earlier.  The party scrambled down the keep and back across the broken bridge to try to intercept her.

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### The Zhentarim
Once at the gate, Roland attempted to thwart Kell's effort to lower the drawbridge, but failed miserably as he couldn't figure out how the winch operated.  Sydney on the other hand offered to help her, while Jack attempted his own interruption: scooping up Kella onto his steed and galloping full speed up the halfway-lowered drawbridge. Kella freaked out and bailed at the last moment while Jack and Jill tried to run up the hill, but ended up tumbling after, taking 10 pts of bludgeoning damage.  Finally, the drawbridge was lowered the rest of the way, revealing a band of 7 Zhentarim bandits, led by Xolkin, who greeted Kella and gave Sydney the secret Zhentarim hand sign.  Kella gave him the status report and Xolkin asked the party if they'd assist the Zhents on more time, this time for payment, by "dealing with" the remaining guards.  The party wasn't interested, and departed the village, but not before Roland rode back to warn the guards of the Zhent occupation.  They then set off aimlessly (because no one had actually gotten any directions to the caves) into the Ardeep Forest.

### The Ardeep Forest
Riding north through the woods, the group soon encountered a party of battle-ready orcs, led by a beefy-as-shit orcish war chief.  In a close fight, the party was victorious, thanks in large part to the heroic tanking of Thorin, and the surprisingly effective and deadly spell casting from the squishy mage, Beuford.  The party now finds themselves in the middle of the Ardeep Forest, hearing occasional loud panting and heavy footfalls from passing orc parties.  Nevertheless, as night falls, they make camp.

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# Session 4
###### _August 10, 2019_

Darkness falls over the Ardeep Forest as the party makes camp for the night. Roland stretches his hammock between two large oak trees, Thorin shows remarkable nimbleness as he climbs 30 ft up a tree and fastens himself to a sturdy branch to sleep through the night, and Sydney takes the lone wolf approach, opting to sleep alone, setting up about 50 ft away from the others.  The night passes without incident, and the group wakes up to the sound of whistling and heavy footfalls as a mysterious wizard canters by.  The party approaches Greg, the dwarf, who discloses that he's hungover and just trying to find his way through the forest. Hearing this, Beuford's ears perk up. "A tarvern?!" Beuford Biggins darts off into the woods in the direction the dwarf just came from, quickly disappearing from sight. The adventurers ask Greg if he'd consider joining them in their quest, and he obliges.

### The Search for the Caves
It's about that time that the party realizes  they've set off into the forest without a map or any clear directions, and that they have no idea exactly how to find the Dripping Caves they seek.  They decide to follow the footprints of the orcish raiding party that they just fought the night before.  The heroes spend nearly the entire day (10 hours) carefully tracing the orc tracks in the wrong direction, before they finally run into a bit of luck. They hear the quick footsteps and nasally wheezing of frantic, single goblin running through the woods a few hundred feet away.

### Nilfrod, the Goblin

Quickly, they engage the goblin, firing a well-placed arrow to pin him to a tree, and begin to interrogate him, cutting off one of his fingers.  The creature, Nilfrod, tells them he just stole everything he could carry from his clan in the Dripping Caves and was making his escape through the woods.

<p style="text-indent: 1em;margin-top: -0.8em;"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/N3HBMhx/goblin-nilfrod.png" style="width: 176px;float: right;" />As the party all take turns patting him down (some more enthusiastically than others), they find 50 gold pieces and a map of the goblin cavern tucked away in the most unsavory of bodily hiding places.  Striking a deal to spare his own life, Nilfrod also gIves the party precise directions to the cave and shows them on the map exactly where the villagers are being held captive by the goblin boss, Hark.</p>

Satisfied that they've gathered all the information (and gold) that they can from Nilfrod, they party decides to let him have his freedom. The goblin scampers off into the woods, and, map in hand and with a fresh heading, the adventurers set off to finally find and infiltrate the Dripping Caves.

### The Dripping Caves
Before arriving, the party unfortunately splits once again, losing their new friend Greg and their trusty Bard, Jack. Perhaps they strayed a bit to far from the herd and became lost in the Ardeep Forest? Perhaps captured by another band of orcs?  Only time will tell...  But for now, it's time to rescue some villagers.

When the rest of the group arrives at the entrance to the Dripping Caves, rather than rush into the cave in full force, Sydney opts for the covert approach, disguising himself as Nilfrod, the Goblin, and enters the cave alone as his fellow adventurers watch, waiting for their opportune moment.  Sydney sees one goblin standard guard on a ledge, and one huge ogre taking a mud bath. Successfully fooling the goblin into believing he's Nilfrod, Sydney playfully roughhouses with the guard, Gleek, pulls him off his 10 ft ledge, disarms him, and then bravely stabs him when his back is turned.  But the ogre, Nob, having had his mud bath rudely interrupted, picks up his greatclub and charges Sydney in anger.

### The Death of Sydney Stormborn
Thorin and Roland watch in horror as Nob pulverizes the helpless Sydney Stormborn in one mighty strike.  Perhaps more attention to stealth could have prevented this... or a better organized attack strategy?  The world will never know. But luckily the world does provide everyone a final chance to overcome death!  Sydney's first death saving throw:

CRITICAL FAIL.  Nat one.  For those of you keeping track at home, that's two death fails down.  He will now need to roll three death saves in a row if he wants to live... but hey crazier things have happened.  Law of averages, and whatnot.  So... Sydney's next roll...?

<p><img class="keep" src="https://www.gmbinder.com/images/Ua7q2rN.png" style="float: left; width: 92px; margin-bottom: -3px;"/>ANOTHER. CRITICAL. FAIL. The last and final act of the changeling rogue, Sydney Stormborn.<br/>R.I.P., Sydney.  Your hopes and dreams may die with you, but your scheming, deceitful spirit will live on through your friends. You'll not be easily forgotten, for you could change shapes, but you could never change... our hearts.   And then Roland immediately loots Sydney's body.</p>

And now, down one more man, it's up to just Thorin and Roland to subdue Nob, the ogre.

### Rescue of the Villagers
Together, Roland and Thorin quickly handle the giant Nob (teehee), and proceed through the cave to where Nilfrod told them the villagers would be held captive.  Encountering along the way two more goblins and a second sleeping ogre, Thog... at least this one an easier mark than Nob, as Roland used the advantage of stealth to surprise attack Thog, subduing her before she could react.

Finally, near the back of the cave, Thorin and Roland find the captive villagers, aid them in climbing out of the 20 foot deep pit they've been trapped in, and speak with their defacto leader/spokesman, Morak Ur'ghey, the shield dwarf owner of the Nightstone Inn.

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He tells the heroes that some of the captives had been fed to the goblin boss's giant pet rats, and the remaining villagers had all but given up hope that Lady Nandar would send rescue. Not Morak, however; he remained hopeful to the very end, and is now quite anxious to return home to Nightstone to thank Lady Nandar. But the heroes tell Morak that not only is Lady Nandar dead along with several other townsfolk, but that the town is also in shambles, and what's left is now occupied by the Zhentarim.

Demoralized, but not defeated, Morak musters his resolve and forms a new plan: He tells Tenzing and the two rescuers that he and the villagers will all reconvene at Maudry's Inn & Tavern on the High Road in order to regain their strength, gather their wits, and assemble a militia to return to Nightstone and take it by force if necessary.

### Tenzing Ur'Ghey
Thorin and Roland peer down into the pit to see one last villager helping the last of the women and children up the rope.  After all others are safely out, he nimbly parkours up the pit wall, and in a flash he is standing next to Morak.  "The last of the townsfolk are safely out, father."  Morak introduces the man as his adopted son, Tenzing, a wood elf monk.  Tenzing, humbled to meet the two rescuers, offers to join them in their effort to put a stop to the goblin threat, and to rescue the last villager, Daphne Featherstone, lady-in-waiting to Lady Velrosa Nandar.  Together, the three set off to find Daphne and kill the goblin boss, Hark.

### Snigbat's Scheme
Heading west through the caves, they come upon a disgruntled goblin named Snigbat, who, it turns out, is willing to help the adventurers kill Hark, as she intends to take his place once he's out of the picture.The party agrees to work with her, and the 4 devise an ambush, which proves extremely effective. They kill the goblin boss and his two guards before any of them can even get off a single shot.

<p style="text-indent: 1em;margin-top: -0.8em;"><span class="lg-only" style="background:transparent; display: block; float: right; width: 100px; height: 80px;"></span><img src="https://www.gmbinder.com/images/RecnMAn.png" style="clear: right;float: right; width: 212px; margin: -80px -32px -10px -40px; opacity: 0.75;"/>Returning to the room that Boss Hark emerged from, the party encounters the goblin's pets: 6 giant rats, who had all been well fed on the flesh of the the Nightstone villagers.  After several <em>very grueling</em> rounds of combat, the three heroes emerge victorious, collect Daphne from the pit she was imprisoned in, and head southward down a tunnel to find Hark's hoard in a room behind a boulder, right where Snigbat promised it would be.</p>

The party, having gained a boat load of experience in this adventure, as well as the respect and trust of Snigbat, the new leader in these caves, decide seal off the room and take a well-earned long rest, knowing they are under the protection of their new goblin associates.

###

Meanwhile, Snigbat begins to assert her authority in the cave, taking firm command of her new crew. As a show of good faith, sends out a goblin scout to find out what may have happened to the party's missing <span style="white-space: nowrap;">friends . . .</span>

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# Session 5
###### _August 17, 2019_

We open on Beuford Biggens taking a shit.  Early on in episode 4, Beuford scampered off in search of the tavern Greg had just stumbled out of, but along the way, nature called.  Beuford squatted behind a darkberry bush to take what felt like it was about to be a dominatingly massive dump.  Fumbling with the ties on his trousers at first, the portly sorcerer finally managed to unfasten his pants and, although it was a close call, pull them down to clear the blast zone just in time.  It was then when he finally glanced up, to find himself staring at the business end of an orcish spear pointed directly between his blue eyes.  Five orcs bound, and gagged him, and hauled him off to their orc camp.

Beuford is forced to march for hours overnight back to their camp, and he is unsure just how far he's traveled.  Along the way, the orc party is attacked by wood elf scouts, and one orc is killed.  When the orcs finally arrive at their camp at dawn, Beuford sees that it's just a temporary setup: no perimeter defense, no fortification, just a few tents with sleeping orcs.  Beuford is dragged past a roaring bonfire to the other side of the small camp to find Jack and Greg also captured, and unconscious.

"Yeah, these two didn't last long, heh heh." grunted one of Beuford's hideous gray-skinned captors.

The three adventurers are bound with thick strips of linen (torn from one of the capturing orcs' shirts), gagged with sticks in their mouths, and their weapons are lying in a trough, 10 feet <span style="white-space: nowrap;">away . . .</span>

<p>[Cut to: The Dripping Caves]</p>
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###
######
Having defeated the goblin boss, Hark, along with his 2 guards and 6 pet rats, and having rescued Daphne Featherstone the previous evening, Thorin, Roland, and Tenzing awaken after their long rest in Hark's lair shortly after dawn. They decide to finally raid Hark's treasure chest, which Tenzing approaches and inspects with extreme caution, wary of traps.  Carefully, he investigates the rusty lock on the chest, but it falls apart in his sands, clearly just for show.

Inside they find what remains of the goblins' plunder, and also acquire a very handy Bag of Holding. No more hauling hundreds of lbs of equipment around for these heroes anymore. (You're welcome.)

### Snigbat's offer

Just then, they hear a faint _slap, slap, slapping_ sound coming from the other side of the boulder: Snigbat trying to get their attention.  Together they roll the boulder back out of the doorway to see Snigbat waiting to speak with them.

She informs the party that her scouts found their three missing friends (Beuford, Jack, and Greg). They've been captured by orcs and hauled off to the orc camp in the northern end of the Ardeep Forest, and, from their experience, the scouts know that orc captives do not last long.  If they want to set out to rescue them now, Snigbat promises to have her finest scout escort Daphne Featherstone back to Maudry's inn to meet up with the rest of the villagers, and she  will also send her beefiest remaining goblin guard, BugBug, along with the group to lead them to the orc camp.

Snigbat further informs the group that she's got one more job for them, if they are up for the task: The goblins' fresh water supply has been cut off by a menace in the east tunnels, which they call "the blob".  She says every goblin they've sent in to take care of it... never comes out.  If the heroes would be kind enough to eliminate this threat for Snigbat, they'll be allies for life, and she'll owe them a solid.

The heroes have a choice to make: face the "blob" in the east tunnels now, or rescue their friends from the hands of the Ardeep Forest orcs first.  And they do indeed choose correctly, for they'll need all the help they can get against the scourge in the east tunnels.  Together with their new sturdy goblin companion, BugBug, they set off north into the woods to collect their kidnapped party members.

### Journey to the Orc Camp

Traversing the Ardeep Forest is not without perils.  The group must cover 7 miles, 4 of which are through a dense, heavily wooded swath of forest.  The journey takes them 4 hours.  And along the way they encounters several foes.

First, a few miles in, the group's ears perk up as they hear a faint buzzing. It grows louder and angrier until 3 giant wasps emerge from the woods and attack the travelers.  Roland succeeds in magically charming one of them, lowering its guard, but the other two engage. Tenzing claims one of the kills, while Roland betrays on his newly charmed wasp with a crossbow to the forehead, but to the surprise of the party it's actually their new friend BugBug who emerges as the hero of this fight, felling 2 of the 3 wasps himself.  The group begins to gain a new respect for BugBug, and perhaps for goblins in general?

The next obstacle the adventurers face is a giant mother owl and her two babies, swooping down and attacking from the trees.  Again, BugBug again shows his worth by taking down the mother owl himself, leaving the babies (each with 1 HP) to the others.  Roland knocks one out of the sky with an expertly fired arrow, and the other owl screeches and bails.

The third challenge is non other than the fabled Honey Badger of the Ardeep Forest!  Ambling through the dense section of the forest, Thorin haplessly steps on the unsuspecting badger's tail.  But Honey Badger don't care.  No, actually he cared a great deal, hissing loudly and attacking Thorin. But before he can retaliate, Thorin coldly ends his little badger existence with one swing of his hammer. Turns out, the Honey Badger was actually fabled for the delicious honey he produced, not his prowess in melee combat.

Having triumphed over the evils of the wood, the party finally arrives at the orc camp.

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### The Orc Camp

The group approached from the southwest, stealthing around the perimeter to scout out five unsuspecting orcs, one of them distinguished from the rest, wearing what looked like shaman garb.  They also noticed Beuford Biggens, and an unconscious Greg and Jack, bound and gagged at the other end of the camp, just beyond a roaring bonfire.

About this time, Beuford noticed some motion in the trees on the other side of the camp. Whoever it is sneaking around this camp hasn't been detected by the orcs yet and they are clearly trying to keep it that way, positioning themselves carefully.  Beuford decided that these are no friends of his captors, and the enemy of his enemy is, at least for the moment, his friend.  He begins trying to covertly free himself.

Tenzing and Roland positioned themselves on the west end of the camp, hiding behind two adjacent trees, while Thorin and BugBug split off to enter from the south.

### The Ear Seekers

Just then, Tenzing has a clever idea, and looks over to attempt to communicate it to Roland, who is nearly 15 ft away from him behind a separate tree.  The problem is that there is an orc, in plain sight, taking a leak on Roland's tree approximately 10 ft. from Tenzing. Does this stop the elusive monk from loudly whispering his strategy to his ally?  No!

Tenzing: "Roland! I'll go this way, and you..."

The orc's eyes widen as he looks up, startled. "Raaaahhhh!"  The the other four orcs immediately spring to action.

The pissing orc acts first, lunging at Tenzing. A fight ensues, but Tenzing emerges victorious. Meanwhile the rest of the party engages the other alarmed orcs: Roland slays two, Thorin handles one, and Beuford, freed from his restraints by BugBug, joins the fray to firebolt another orc.

The last remaining enemy is the orc mage, which Beuford recognizes as a mythical Orc Eye of Gruumsh, known for gouging out one of their own eyes to gain favor from their god, Gruumsh, and receiving devine gifts of both might and magic in return.  Facing the full force of the party, the Orc Eye does not last long, soon succumbing to a death blow from Tenzing.  The party loots his body, finding 2 crystals, a pendant bearing the Eye of Gruumsh, and a crudely drawn map of the Ardeep Forest... from an orc's perspective.

Searching the other fallen orcs, the group find a bit of gold but also notices that each was wearing a necklace of strung-together elf ears.  The party takes a quick rest, unties and stashes their unconscious friends, Jack and Greg, in the largest of the orc tents, and departs for the caves again.

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### Return to the Caves

As the group begins their return voyage, BugBug again takes the lead, knowing these woods the best. Unfortunately, some dangers are hard to anticipate, and an hour into the journey, the party stumbles into the territory of two giant, hostile boars. It takes the whole party to bring these foes down, but Tenzing finishes off one, dropping to his knees to perform a flurry of blows, while BugBug acrobatically lunges at the other, swinging on a tusk to hoist himself up around its neck to deliver the final hit. Roland then butchers the fallen boar, carving out a giant slab of pork belly and lights a fire... bacon is on the menu.

Next, the party hears a familiar buzzing.  Another three giant wasps attack from the foliage, but this time the group is ready for them. In one quick round of combat, Roland, Tenzing, and Beuford adeptly slay all three of the giant insectoids. The journey continues.

Darkness begins to creep over the trees.  Just a couple more hours and they will reach their destination, rest, and prepare to take on Snigbat's mysterious scourge in the east tunnels.

### The Black Puddin'

The party arrives at the Dripping Caves well after nightfall, tired and bloodied.  They take a long rest in Hark's hoard room as before, which is starting to feel more and more like home at this point -- a disconcerting thought.

The next morning, they awaken refreshed and ready to slay one more beast, known only as "the blob".  Snigbat meets them outside the entrance to their room, offering breakfast: a raw rat's corpse.  Tenzing accept is humbly (along with some bonus XP for good role play). Snigbat also offers up BugBug and two more goblin guards, LugLug and ZugZug, to assist the party in their effort.  Together, the seven of them set off into the east tunnels to face the mysterious enemy.

As the group enters the east cavern, weapons at the ready, eyes sharp and ears vigilant, they slowly realize... there's nothing here.  A half-dissolved humanoid skeleton lay on the cave floor, and an interesting stalagmite riddled with holes grows out of the center of the cavern, but otherwise, no enemy can be found.

Roland, having not taken his morning pee yet, unfurls and let's fly all over the hollowed-out stalagmite.  As he chuckles and looks over his shoulders to comment to his party, Roland feels something cold... wet... and slimy... wrapping around his elven trouser snake.  The black ooze grapples Roland's junk, searing his most intimate of appendages with a permanent black scar, and yanks down!  Roll for initiative.

While it is the Black Pudding who acts first, apparently drenching it in elf piss must have thrown it off its game, because the ooze critically fails on its surprise attack, dealing damage to itself.

LugLug fires an arrow into the sludge, which sizzles and dissolves as it hits. Tenzing stabbs it with his short sword, taking a bit of acid damage as some of the ooze splashes back onto his face, but he also notices the same sizzle and some slight corrosive damage to his blade after slashing the ooze. Thorin, acts next, striking down with his mighty hammer, and taking splash-back damage as well as corrosive damage to his weapon. Roland, then takes the opportunity to back away from the slime and fire an arrow into it.

Having the Black Pudding outnumbered seven to one, the party finally begins to see a tangible effect on it, as it shrinks in size with each new hit.  Beuford, BugBug, and ZugZug all make calculated ranged attacks against the monster, whittling it down.  But it is Thorin who eventually delivers the final blow with his great hammer, watching as "the blob" thrashes and shrinks down to nothing but a pinpoint, fizzles, and disappears in a black wisp.

Tenzing rushes to wash the black sludge off the party's weapons, preventing further damage, while the three goblins head back to inform Snigbat of their victory. From among the loot the party finds from killing the pudding, Tenzing picks up a familiar brass ring, which he recognizes as an heirloom of the Ostra family.  He realizes that the humanoid bones are those of Lea Ostra, the mother of his close friend, Broland.

With the villagers saved, their friends rescued from the orcs, and the menace in the east tunnels defeated, the party, finally free to depart the caves, must now decide where they'll go next: Join back up with Morak and the villagers at Maudry's tavern and help them prepare an offensive?  Return to Nightstone to face down the Zhentarim usurpers on their own?  Or try to convince Tenzing to forget all about his home and his people, leaving them to their fate?

\pagebreak

# Session 6
###### _September 20, 2019_

Still quite healthy after slaying the Black Pudding, the party decides to depart for Maudry's.  As they are leaving, Snigbat thanks them once again, and reminds them they've earned an ally for life and a place to rest under her protection should they ever need it. In a flashy farewell gesture, Beuford creates a quick magical illusion of fireworks as the four heroes depart the caves.

### The Father Tree

Examining the orcish map of the forest, the party decides to take a small detour to visit what is labeled as "Big Tree".  Along the way, they have one encounter in the woods: the fabled Honey Badger (again). This time, upon killing the poor creature, Beuford, while cutting off the badger's tail, discovers the internal honey sack, containing 4 pints of badger honey (each granting the effect of a healing potion, or 50g).

When the party arrives at the spot marked on the map, they are awestruck to behold The Father Tree, a magnificent oak with sprawling roots and branches, 250 ft. tall with at least a 25 ft trunk.  Tenzing, being a wood elf and a disciple of the Temple of the Twisted Oak, was familiar with a similar tree in the High Forest, called The Grandfather Tree. He advised the group to show reverence in the presence of this tree, as this was a sacred spiritual ground.</p>

Roland finds some of the tree's acorns on the ground, eats one, and gains 1 HP. He pockets a couple more of them.

<p style="text-align: justify;"><span class="lg-only" style="display: block; shape-outside: ellipse(210px 100px at 110% 53%); width: 300px; height: 200px; float: right;"></span><span style="display: block; width: 30px; height: 50px; float: right;"></span>Beuford and Roland had the inclination to try to climb the massive oak, but half way up to the lowest branches, they heard the tree creak and took it as a sign of warning.  Wisely, the climbed down.  When they reached the ground, the tree dropped an acorn on each of their noggins... almost as if in jest.
Tenzing, meanwhile, showed respect and humility before the majestic forest spirit, thanking the tree for its fruit, and for the peaceful aura it created for those under its boughs.  Beuford too showed great reverence and even attempted to speak with the tree, but perceived no discernible response.</p>

### Recruiting a Militia
<p><span style="display: block; width: 75px; height: 20px; float: right;"></span>The party then resumes their trek to Maudry’s Inn & Tavern. Upon exiting the Ardeep Forest out of its southern edge, they opt to give Nightstone a wide berth to avoid detection. After passing the village by, but before arriving at the tavern, the party happens to notice a single cloud in the sky standing still amongst a sea of otherwise lazily drifting clouds.</p>

\columnbreak

When the party arrives at the tavern, they are met by Maudry herself, sweeping up the stoop at the entrance. Not recognizing Tenzing or Beuford, she ushers them in. But she stops when she recognizes Roland and Thorin. Chastising them for their previous offense (nearly starting a brawl in her tavern), she all but demands an apology, which the two party members give, if sheepishly. Maudry then welcomes them inside, forgiven. But not before Roland impresses her with a clever riddle, gaining a bit more of her favor.

When the party enters the tavern, Morak greets them, conveys his exasperation at being unable to muster any interest in forming a militia to march on Nightstone, and asks the party if they can help rally support, including asking Tenzing to speak with Broland Ostra, whose mother was lost in the chaos of the cave.  Roland gets to Broland first and breaks the terrible news that his mother was killed. Tenzing steps in, offers Broland the family heirloom ring that he found, and offers some words of comfort. But Beuford also joins the conversation only to deceptively give Broland false hope that his mother may yet still live.  In the end, Broland is able to collect himself and vows to fight along side Morak and the party to take back Nightstone.

The group then sets to convincing others to join the militia.  Thorin makes a toast and Beuford makes a rousing speech, stirring interest in the cause.  Roland, Thorin, and Beuford are also able to recruit a few men via a few unique challenges: Roland shoots Jethro’s apple before it strikes the ground, Thorin bests Rocko Bullhammer in arm wrestling match, and Beuford turns Marco’s ale into ice with a touch of his finger.

<span class="lg-only" style="display: block; margin-top: 15px;shape-outside: ellipse(245px 110px at -20% 50%); width: 300px; height: 230px; float: left;k"></span><span class="lg-only" style="display: block; width: 30px; height: 30px; float: left;"></span><span class="lg-only" style="display: block; width: 50px; height: 25px; float: left; clear: left;"></span><span class="lg-only" style="display: block; width: 90px; height: 20px; float: left; clear: left;"></span>Tenzing also makes a bit of a bluff (employing a little reverse psychology) to persuade three more men to join: Tim, Tom, and Den.  But before their efforts are done, Morak mentions that he was also able to convince a few lads to <span style="white-space: nowrap;">join . . .</span> <br/>Heavy boots clomp toward the party as they look up to see the familiar, brutish face of BroJoe. They see the flash of recognition in BroJoe's eyes, and he is, at first, very untrusting of the party.  But in an effort to smooth over the tension of their previous near-brawl encounter, Thorin buys BroJoe an ale, and they decide to let bygones be bygones. BroJoe and his posse (Hans, Steely, and Joplin) also agree join the militia. Together, all said and done, <a href="" target="_blank">Morak</a> and the party recruit 12 able bodied men to join in the fight to save Nightstone from the Zhentarim occupation: <a href="" target="_blank">Broland Ostra</a>, <a href="" target="_blank">BroJoe</a>, <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/474404-rocko-bullhammer" target="_blank">Rocko</a>, Tim, Tom, Hans, Steely, and Joplin (<a href="" target="_blank">militia</a>), Marco, Den, and Jethro (<a href="" target="_blank">hunters</a>), and one unexpected <span style="white-space: nowrap;">ally . . .</span>

\pagebreak

### The Mysterious Halfling

Among those who agree to fight is one interesting halfling named Roody.  Tenzing, who happens upon him as he's telling jokes to a table of elder gentlemen, relays the situation and notices Roody's eyes flash when he hears that it's the Zhentarim who are to blame, a faction for whom Roody has a particular hatred.  Roody discloses that he has always been “creeped out” by the actual Nighstone obelisk and is not comfortable returning to the village while it is still there.  When Tenzing tells him it was stolen by giants, the halfing immediately offers to join their fight, relishing any chance to thwart the Zhentarim.

<p class="indent"><img src="https://www.gmbinder.com/images/UMNaAXF.png" style="opacity: .9; width: 140px; margin: 0px -5px -5px; float: right;"/>Intrigued by the Roody's apparent worldly knowledge, Tenzing shows him the strange metallic disc he was found with as a baby. While the halfing seems to recognize the symbol, he doesn't divulge much else, other than making a passing mention of "The Feywild". Roody dismisses himself to take a piss.</p>

But Beuford, having overheard the conversation, decides to follow him outside.  He tries to speak to him in Halfling, but is suspicious when Roody does not seem to engage in the conversation... almost as if he doesn't speak the language.

Back inside the tavern, Tenzing speaks to the recently-widowed halfing from the village, Taela Summerhawk. He gives her shy son his teddy bear back, and then returns to Taela the fish-shaped silver locket which belonged to her late husband, Larlow. Taela cried, collected her children, and retreated to the corner of the tavern solemnly.

The party winds down for the evening: Beuford takes the opportunity to put some work toward crafting a potion of healing (3 hrs. out of the 8 hrs necessary), Roland challenges his buddies with a few more of his riddles, Thorin... probably drinks the rest of the night away, and Tenzing... well, Tenzing probably just called a bunch of locals "brother" and then meditates?  Either way, they all crash for the night at the tavern: the party and the male villagers downstairs, women and children upstairs with Maudry.

### The Epic Battle For Nightstone

The next morning, the party meets the full militia outside at sun up. Before departing, Tenzing notices a wanted poster pinned on a bulletin borad outside of the tavern, from Lords Alliance, offering a reward for slain giants: 250gp per head. Tenzing decides to take the poster with him.

The group and the militia headed north to Nightstone. As they approach, an arrow strikes the ground in front of them, with a note attached.  A message from the Nightstone guards reads, "Give us the signal; we'll flank them --Torem".

The party takes the next several minutes to carefully strategize, planning out how to enter the town, meticulously working out each detail, and precise timing - a masterful feat to behol...  aaaand Roland has snuck into the town on his own.  And there he goes stealthing up to the roof of the temple...   aaaand now he just shot the bandit captain with a longbow. Perfect.  So, strategy out the window, the rest of the party and militia storm in through the open drawbridge.

An epic battle ensues! The Battle for Nightstone.

Tenzing swiftly dashes in to take on the Zhentarim nearly single handed, while his slower allies take several turns to make their way into striking distance.  Roland continues to bombard the Zhents with arrows from his half-cover vantage on the rooftop, Beuford tries a "work smarter, not harder" approach and sets the Nightstone Inn ablaze to attempt to burn the Zhents out, and Thorin, dangerous at close distances but wasted on cross-country, huffs his way to the front line just in time to see the defeated Zhentarim give themselves up, outnumbered and cornered in the inn.  Of the original 15 enemies, the only remaining survivors of the battle are the captain, Xolkin, his spy, Kella, and 3 other Zhent bandits.

### The Disgrace of the Zhentarim

Xolkin tries to purchase their freedom, offering "everything they have on them". Tenzing takes his gold, but then knocks him out cold. Xolkin's pet flying snake uncoils from his arm and escapes into the sky, despite attempts to shoot it down. The party then strips the remaining Zhents of all of their belongings, including their clothes (all but Kella’s). Searching the belongings, they find a gold ring (worth 25 gp) emblazoned with the symbol of the Zhentarim: a black winged serpent, a pouch that holds 4 pp, 13 gp, five 100 gp gemstones, and 78 gp amongst the forfeited gear.

Tenzing makes Kella swear they will never againto return to Nightstone. But, on this day, Roland Deschain is out for blood.  He makes a highly intimidating threat to the survivors, and despite the screams of protest from Kella, cuts off Xolkin’s ear as he lie on the ground, unconscious. Roland gives it to Kella as a message for her boss, The Snail. The failed Zhentarim are sent back to Daggerford, naked and in utter shame.

### We Will Rebuild!

Villagers begin to emerge from their damaged houses, gathering in the town square along with their new heroes: Morak, Broland, the recruited militia, and of course the party. The guards thank the heroes for their help in ousting the usurpers, and tell them about House Nandar in Waterdeep, indicating that the current patriarch, Talurth Nandar, will be most grieved to hear of his sister-in-law's death, and most concerned for his family's investment in this region. Surely they will send aid. The guards give the party another message to deliver to House Nandar, whenever they pass through Waterdeep.

Roland offers to donate some of the party's loot to the reconstruction of Nightstone (to the surprise and silent protests of his companions I might add).

Morak offers everyone free drinks and lodging in his broken inn.  Roody thanks the adventures for the chance to "bash some Zhentarim skulls". Tenzing once again asks the halfing what he knows about the Fey Wild, but Roody deflected once again, saying "We'll discussed it in the morning. Tonight, we drink!"  The party heads inside to heal up and get pissed.

But not before they notice once more... the same solitary cloud, still unmoving in the sky.

\pagebreak

# Session 7
###### _November 9, 2019_

Blades still wet with Zhentarim blood after the battle to reclaim Nightstone, our heroes wind down the rest of the evening in Morak's tavern, known to locals as The Nightstone Inn, though the Zhentarim insurgents had just begun erecting a new sign for it: "The Dragons Back Tavern".

As they are drinking to their victory, they encounter a new adventurer: a brooding young dragonborn enters the broken tavern. Initially ignoring the party's questions and small talk, Linxakasendalor Knox, a former knight of the Neverwinter Guard, finally introduces herself as simply, "Knox", and opens up to sharing a few stories and drinks with Beuford and Roland.

As Tenzing continues to press Roody for answers about the Feywild, he learns that Roody's parents were planeswalkers, and that, although he has not personally set foot in the Feywild himself, Roody is at least familiar with the runic symbol for it, which is inscribed on Tenzing's metal disc. After brushing past Roody and clipping his shoulder to find that the halfling is as sturdy as a goddamn brick wall, Tenzing accuses him of being a giant, but Roody denies this and reveals nothing further about his suspicious origins, other than to jokingly claim he must be a dragon.

### Talking Sheep

A commotion erupts outside. The party hears a clattering of hooves and a faint jingling. Then a pounding at the tavern door. They look toward the disturbance, and a fluffy white sheep bursts through. The animal has a bell tied around its neck, and a scroll in its mouth. It looks quickly around the tavern before it spots Beuford nearby.  The animal sprints toward the party, almost knocking a tavern patron over before it regains control of its momentum. Dropping the scroll in Beuford's lap, it looks directly at him, seemingly pleading with its soft brown eyes.

Beuford contemplates what is it the sheep wants, unfurling the parchment out of curiosity to find that it is a magic scroll, allowing him to cast the Speak With Animals spell.  As the sheep hears him communicate this aloud to the party he nods enthusiastically and motions (as best he can) with his head for the party to follow him outside.

<span class="lg-only" style="display: block; shape-outside: polygon(100% 21%, 100% 19%, 75% 38%, 56% 28%, 60% 55%, 40% 100%, 0 50%, 0 0, 26% 0); margin-top: 7px; width: 130px; height: 140px; float: left;"></span>The party follows, except Tenzing, stands at the precipice of the tavern to keep a close eye on Roody during this odd happening.  Beuford reads the scroll out loud, activating the spell, and the sheep introduces himself as Finethir Shinebright, a local mage of no small renown, specializing in transmutation magic. He insists that he needs to party's help in order to...

###

<span class="lg-only" style="width: 30px; height: 1px; display: inline-block;"></span>Before the sheep can continue, a loud howling cuts through the air. The sheep's eyes widen with fear as he scrambles to take refuge behind the heroes.

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Before the sheep can continue, a loud howling cuts through the air. The sheep's eyes widen with fear as he scrambles to take refuge behind the heroes.

### Guz's Gang

The cause quickly becomes apparent as a large half-orc swaggers toward the party. Accompanying him are what appear to be large wolves wearing iron collars, while a hulking figure wearing a dirty brown cloak lumbers in his wake with footfalls loud enough to be heard over the ruckus. The half-orc sets his small eyes on the sheep strides forward with one hand resting on the hilt of his great axe. "That sheep belongs to Master Noke!  He desires to have it back.  It is of great sen-tee-men-tal value to him."

After a short and fruitless negotiation, the half-orc, apparently named Guz, escalates the situation by deploying his two wolves to surround the sheep.  Taking this as a clear act of aggression, the party springs into action and attacks! The hulking figure removes its cloak to reveal that it's a giant brown bear. Together, the orc and his posse prove to be cunning and formidable, but they are not quick enough to escape with the sheep or to defeat our heroes in combat.

Once the foes are vanquished, the sheep, Finethir Shinebright, resumes his explanation.  He was polymorphed into this form while he slept, by his jealous apprentice, Noke, who used Finethir's own Wand of True Polymorph against him.  Shinebright needs the heroes' help to change him back into his true form, and evict the treacherous squatter, Noke, from his house in the woods.  There will certainly be more animal guards like the wolves and bear they just defeated, but the mage promises riches to the party if they'll help.

### House in the Woods

The party follows Finethir through the Ardeep to his tree house, overcoming several obstacles along the way. After several hours of travel, the tall blueleaf and duskwood trees give way to a large forest meadow, within which is an old house, which seems to have been formed from the living branches of four sturdy oak trees, shaped and woven to create three thick tree house platforms. Scattered beneath the platforms are two small wooden huts and a large outhouse.

\pagebreak

The heroes see two gorillas playing with huge oversized dice in the front lawn, marking scores with chalk on a piece of slate, each one wearing a sheathed longsword, and a huge warthog sleeping in the grass behind the outhouse.  This is certainly Shinebright's house, but how will they get inside?

Roland cleverly stealths around behind the house to peer into a window, successfully climbing the outer tree walls of the structure, but seeing nothing but an empty dining hall at first. Thorin, who must have eaten something quite disagreeable back at the tavern, ducks behind a tree to drop a dwarven duece. But the rest of the group opts for the direct approach, storming the front lawn to engage the animal guards head-on.

### Showdown with Noke

Beuford acts fast, casting Enlarge on the still-shitting Thorin Warhammer, embiggening both the dwarf and his dwarf droppings to an intimidating size, while Tenzing and Knox charge the unsuspecting guards. The polymorphed gorillas brandish swords while the warthog charges tusk-first. During the ensuing skirmish, Roland continues staking out the house from his vantage point, finally spotting Noke, but is unable to get a good bead on him from outside the window. Meanwhile, the outhouse door suddenly bursts open and a large brown bear steps out, roaring.  Immediately, from one of the tree house windows, a shimmering bolt of magic strikes the bear, enlarging it to Giant size before the party's eyes.  Thorin sighs, pulls up his giant trousers, and charges the bear.

A grueling bout of combat rages on until finally, the heroes are able to defeat the animals and make their way through the garden and inside the tree house.  Noke, who had been hiding from the action thus far, flees into Shinebright's bedchamber in the tallest of the three tree house platforms, and locks the door behind him.

As the group works together to break down the door, suddenly a loud crash is heard, and they look up to see Noke explode through the roof of his bedchamber riding . . .  a dragon? Or is it a bed?

Unbeknownst to the party, the apprentice wizard had used the wand to transform the largest thing he could find, his bed, into a dragon wyrmling.

Roland quickly throws his grappling hook to snag the wyrmling. Yelling "Cunts! To Me!", he and Tenzing attempt to climb the rope up to Noke, while Beuford and Knox make ranged attacks, and Thorin continues to wrestle with the barr.  The dragon bed wyrmling unleashes multiple rounds of his Splinter Breath upon Tenzing and Roland, the last of which finally dropping Roland to 0 HP.  Tenzing slips and falls back to the bottom of the rope, his vitality dwindling as well... Things are not looking too good for the Thunder Cunts.

It's then that their new friend, Knox unleashes a monstrous Rallying Cry, strengthening the resolve of the group, and bringing Roland back to consciousness.  And the tides begin to turn.

A flurry of expertly placed arrows, bolts, spells, and forehand frippy disc throws finally overcome Noke's defenses, and the apprentice is knocked out of the sky.  After falling to the ground, his concentration is broken and the bed dragon wyrmling reverts to a normal, humble wizard's bed.

With Noke defeated, the sheep, still unable to speak, noses the wand and bleats enthusiastically. Beuford takes up the wand, noticing that it's losing its magical integrity. He ascertains that using it again would certainly be a risk... but Shinebright is insistant.

Beuford points the mighty wand toward Shinebright and waits.... the wand fizzles, pops, and makes a few unholy sounds, before transforming Finethir Shinebright back to his true High Elf form, at last.

\pagebreak

# Session 8 
###### _December 13, 2019_

The heroes wake up Noke, bind him, and hoist him above the firepit in Shinebright's great room, threatening to set it alight if he doesn't confess his reasons for betraying his master.  All they are able to get out of him is that he secretly serves another... but that he can not divulge any more, or it will surely mean his life. Noke clams up and refuses to speak another word.

### A Powerful Ally

The great wizard thanks the party for their help and rewards them with the promised gold, assuring them that they have won a powerful ally in Finethir Shinebright, one of the most skilled transmutation wizards in the land.

But Shinebright basks that the party not kill his apprentice; for he is the wizard's responsibility. Shinebright will instead discipline Noke accordingly, but keep him in humiliating servitude.

The wizard offers the apprentice's humble belongings to the party, and Beuford searches through the apprentices belongings, finding a mysterious wooden token with a goose on it, unfamiliar to Shinebright.  Meanwhile, Roland asks if he may pilfer through Finethir's garden for... "herbs", while the other cunts decide to appeal to Shinebright for one more moment with Noke, alone, before they depart. Finethir obliges.

### A Powerful Evil

Pressing Noke to divulge more information, the party learns that Noke is too scared to talk because the one that he serves will <span style="white-space: nowrap;">know . . .</span> instantly. The heroes inform him that they have no intention of letting him live anyway, and Noke, seeing the futility of the situation, gives up and begins to explain that he serves a great evil from "the <span style="white-space: nowrap;">sea" . . .</span>

Before Noke can utter another word, blood streams from his nose as he begins to convulse.  After a second or two of the violent seizure, he collapses, dead.  It appears that he was right to fear an instant death.  But how was this possible?

The heroes quickly leave the room, shutting the door behind them. "Welp, we'll be on our way!"  It would be several minutes before the master wizard would stray back into his bedchamber. They hoped.

### A Good Knight's Rest

Shinebright invites the party to stay the night in the now-empty guards huts outside, and the group splits up into their various shelters for the night. Roland and Thorin share some of their spoils from the garden while Knox finds her own solitary hut.

In the night, some time before dawn, the dragonborn Knox leaves her newfound friends behind and slipping away in the darkness, undetected.  She leaves behind nothing but a solitary note, which reads, "I must go. Perhaps we will meet again. It was an honor doing battle with you."

\columnbreak
### A Giant Cluster

When the adventurers awaken, it is to the sound of bones crunching.  Peering outside, they see a hill giant feasting on the remains of the slain warthog in front of Shinebright's house.  Tenzing, unable to control his unbridled hatred of giants, charges at the monstrosity. The rest of the party shrugs and engages the giant as well. When suddenly, from the trees emerge 2 more hill giants <small>THEY DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WERE THERE.</small>  Ho boy.

The party holds its own for a few rounds of combat before they start to feel certainty of defeat looming.  Roland begins to call for retreat, but the normally peaceful monk, either unable or unwilling to hear Roland's words, furiously presses on. Tenzing is the first to fall in battle, then the stout barbarian dwarf that the party thought nigh unbreakable. As Roland is pulling his commrades' bodies out of the fray, he falls as well.  Beuford, bravely hiding behind a tree trunk, is the only cunt left.  He considers a new tactic: diplomacy.  But his careful chosen words simply sound pompous to the stupid hill giants, who decide this mage needs to die along with his tiny  <span style="white-space: nowrap;">friends . . .</span>

### A Familiar Voice

As the hill giant brandishes his great club and begins to charge Beuford, a shadow falls over the grassy lawn and the flapping of enormous wings can be heard from above.  The charging giant is suddenly and violently lit up by a massive charge of lightning, killing the monster instantly.   In rapid succession two more blinding bolts of lightning drop the other two giants, as a massive bronze dragon gracefully lands in the grass, staring at Beuford.  "Well", he says, "<em>someone</em> had to save your asses."  It is the familiar voice of their halfling friend, Roody.

<p class="indent"><img class="lg-only" src="https://www.gmbinder.com/images/DnwqCPu.png" style="width: 65%; float: right; transform: scaleX(-1); margin-right: -20px"/>After reviving the other members of the party, Roody explains that he is a dragon, named Felgolos, who enjoys taking the form of halflings and humans to mingle with the small folk, whom he is very fond of. He took a liking to this lot, and couldn't wait to spring the surprise on them, though he never expected to have to do it under such dramatic circumstances!</p>

He tells the heroes that, he actually here at the behest of his friend and Tenzing's surrogate father, Morak to deliver a message to Tenzing. The parchment says that Morak always knew Tenzing would seek adventure over a mundane small town life -- it's in his very blood -- but if his adventures ever took him up Bryn Shander way, to please inform the sheriff, Markham Southwell, of his sister's untimely death during the cloud giant attack.

\pagebreak

### Charter Flight

Persuading the mighty dragon, Felgolos, to give them a ride north to Bryn Shander, in the frigid Icewind Dale, the Thunder Cunts climb upon his back, and the party -- down one dragonborn, but plus one dragon -- takes to the skies to fulfill Morak's quest.
___
Hours go by... Days...
___
Suddenly one evening, thy are met by a jolt of energy surging across Felgolos' scales.  "Hold on!" he yells, as he dives evasively.  The party looks up to see the silhouette of a second giant dragon circling above.  Felgolos swoops into a thick cloud, obscuring their position, as another massive surge of lightning streams down from the attacking dragon, barely missing. The dragon sillhouette speaks: "Meddle not in my affairs again, Felgolos, or face my full wrath!"  The dragon flies off, leaving the party with questions.  Felgolos explains that this was the well-known ancient dragon, Iymrith, one bad mamajama that you do not want to cross, but that he has know idea what he's done to intervene in her affairs.

### The Tower of Zephyros

They continue their journey north, feeling the air get cold and dense.  Until, out on the horizon, Felgolos spots something new...  The party sees it too: the familiar solitary cloud, standing still.  Felgolos recognizes this as the floating tower home of his friend, Zephyros, a  wizard cloud giant, and he flys toward the tower atop the cloud.

The giant greets the party and welcomes them in, offering to fly them the rest of the way to Bryn Shander.  Felgolos gladly accepts the respite.  Tenzing, still full of hatred for all giants, is very slow to trust Zephyros, while Roland and the cloud giant become fast friends, sharing in some of their favorite edibles together.

Zephyros reveals that he's a powerful wizard and has been casting the Contact Other Planes spell to try to divine a solution from otherworldly entities, who lead him to this party.  He admits that the attack on Nightstone must have been cloud giants, but he had nothing to do with it.

<p class="indent"><img class="lg-only" src="https://www.gmbinder.com/images/Fa6nYdC.png" style="float: right; width: 70%; margin: 10px -56px 0 -66px"/>Regardless, it is clear that our peaceful monk, Tenzing, holds the giant in very low esteem. He even cunningly offers Zephyros a vomit-enducing mushroom as a bitter prank (and succeeds wildly on a deception roll to convince him it's a friendly gift). Zephyros eats Tenzing’s mushroom and immediately throws up in his mouth.  He tries to shrug it off -- cloud giants have long memories, but Zephyros is particularly forgiving, if not simply absent-minded, considering his memory may not be tip-top due to his repeated casting of the Contact Other Planes spell, which has a tendancy to make the caster periodically go insane.  Meanwhile, Thorin sack-taps Tenzing for the mushroom offense.</p>

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### The Ordning

Zephyros further reveals that giantkind's sacred Ordning has been shattered, and that he and all other giants "felt it", but know one he's contacted knows why or how it happened.  All Zephyros knows is that the giants' social hierarchy is up for grabs, and giants are going to be grasping for power. This must be why giants attacked Nightstone: to obtain the nightstone obelisk itself, which they must believe will help them in some way in their vie for power. It is probably, he surmises, also why hill giants are running amok in the Ardeep forest. Who knows what other mayehm might unfold?

### Unfriendly Skies

On their way into the frigid north, while Roland challenges Tenzing to a friendly game of skill: attempting to shoot Tenzing's frippy disc out of the sky, the tower encounters some uninvited guests.  Representatives from the cult known as The Howling Hatred land on the cloud and briskly brush past the party, interested only in speaking with Zephyros and trying to convince him to support their cause, to "return the world to its primordial state". They offer him a gift, which he appears to decline as he politely bids them adieu. The party opts not to engage these masked cultists, as they seemed to pose no threat.

Later, the party encounter a second group of unwanted vistors: a cadre of shield dwarves from the Lords' Alliance are dropped off at the base of the tower by a large but otherwise non-combative blue dragon, which Felgolos later identifies as Clarion. The party tries again and again to persuade the dwarves to leave, but they have their orders to destroy Zephyros' navigation orb, and by Moradin's beard they will succeed! "For the Alliance!"

A skirmish ensues as the party attempts to hold off the raiding dwarves, who must eventually drink potions that transform them into mist so they can attempt to float past the blockade of cunts.  All but one, that is, who is corporeally beaten down before he can transform.  The mists, however, are still susceptible (though resistant) to melee attacks, and the party manages to destroy 2 of them before they can float up to the 2nd floor, rematerialized, and attempt to destroy Zephyros' navigation orb.  Zephyros, not wishing to kill the dwarves, casts protective spells around the orb to shield it from their onslaught.  But Beuford, tired of these pesky thick-headed intruders, shouts for Zephyros to step back, and nukes the dwarves with a fireball, ending the battle.

Clarion, the dwarves' dragon transport, watches the whole scenario unfold with amusement, before flying off.

### Descent into Icewind Dale

Finally, the group reaches their destination: the walled city of Bryn Shander, the largest of ten settlements known collectively as Ten-Towns, located in the frigid heart of Icewind Dale. After nightfall, Zephyros brings the floating tower to a rest in the wilderness well out of view of the hilltop city.  The air is thick and still, and bitterly cold.  The group begins gathering their gear.