Want to help? Consider becoming a Patreon.

• Adrian Silverstrength (Human Paladin)
• Morsus Firebeard (Hill Dwarf Cleric)
• Sephrenia (High Elf Cleric)
• Ragnaroc (Aasimar Warlock)
• Don Kannin (Half-Elf Ranger)

• fter resting at the base of the mountain and keeping guard, the party spots what appears to be the same manticores that had attacked them and fled after being wounded, hunting other animals in the fields, throughout the night.
• Having rested fully, the party makes their way up the mountain trail, heading for the Gates of Thoridun, the Dwarven Kingdom.
• As they make their way up the stone path, they spot three large birds (whose wing spans are about 6′ in length) – none of them are immediately able to tell what kind of giant birds they are
• Don Kannin and Sephrenia both stealth forward; but Sephrenia’s armor clanks too much so she stops, allowing Don Kannin to continue to scout ahead. He manages to spot the unusual large birds, who seem to have antlers on their head, nose diving something ahead; and then picking up what appears to be dwarves and then throwing them off the ravine’s edge. Upon further examination he spots a wagon that appears to have taken considerable damage. He stealthfully returns to the party to report what he’d seen.
• The party decides to go against the mountain wall with Adrian, Morsus and Sephrenia in the front, and Don and Ragnaroc in the back. Don and Sephrenia fire arrows at the same giant bird, which draws the attention of all three.
• The ghastly sight of the unusual birds that now – facing them – have deer like heads and antlers, with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, temporarily startles Adrian (Rolled a 1 on Initiative)
• The three large birds see that Adrian has dropped his weapon and shield decide to target him. One of them slams into him, knocking him against the stone wall, and doing considerable damage, but was unable to take him and lift off with him. The other two miss their attacks.
• Don and Ragnaroc deal the majority of the damage, eventually killing all three of the unusual birds.
• Don Kannin, though he does not know what the strange birds were called; has heard from dwarves he’s met on the traveling roads – of these strange birds, described as such that have been around Thoridun’s entrance with far greater frequency; and that the birds require feasting on a beating heart, which explains why they were disposing of the dead dwarves by the wagon.
• Don Kannin manages to pry a pair of antlers off one of the strange birds per Adrian’s request and hands it to him.
• The party ventures up to the wagon, which is in shambles, and quickly scans the wagons. They find two dead dwarves who were not thrown into the ravine by the strange birds and decide the proper thing to do would be to bury them. Don Kannin takes note that the strange birds did not kill these dwarves; something else did – and upon looking, notices arrow marks in the dwarves. Adrian wonders if it’s the same type of arrow that had the dwarf in the field – that had the strange black wood arrow.
• Sephrenia notes that it’s odd that the arrows are made of the unusual black wood that none had seen before, if it’s the same arrows – and that the Dwarf who sent them on this mission from Spire’s Edge has the surname of Blackoak and wonders if there’s a connection. (Sephrenia gains Inspiration!)
• After burying the two dwarves, Adrian prays over the dead, followed by Don Kannin praying over the dead; followed by Morsus praying over the dead.
• The party examines the crates and notes that it’s weapons and shields baring the symbol of Blackoak. Adrian takes a sword and shield since the craftsmanship is incredible and the party proceeds up the mountain.
• They stop at a rest stop forged by the dwarves; where there is ample trees to hide, enough room for four caravans; some stone tables and chairs; a small pond that runs down the ravine into the river. Adrian notices one of the trees bares fruit and gathers some to eat it, immediately feeling the dire effects of poison that sapped his strength. It required cleansing the poison from his veins with lay on hands.
• Morsus tries to purify the fruit and notices that the poison is less effective, but still present in the fruit, meaning it’s been too long since it’s been poisoned, or whatever the poison is is something like he’s never seen before.
• The party proceeds up the path and reaches Gates of Thoridun. Morsus tries to open the door, but can’t seem to figure out how the lock works. Adrian tries next, followed by Don Kannin; none of which seem to be able to figure out the door.
• Despite her dislike of enclosed spaces and dwarves who lock themselves down in a mountain; she respected the craftsmanship that reminded her of her home in the walled city of the high elves, and studied it for a moment, before realizing one had to turn the hammer on the door – not simply tug on it – and opened the door.
• Lighting a torch for Adrian, due to his inability of having dark vision, the party ventured inside, where Adrian immediately caught the smell of decay. Moving inside further, they found several dwarves in various states of decay; which seemed odd – that not only were they in various states of decay; but the wagon they just passed had to have just left no more than a day ago – how would it have left through here with these dead dwarves?
• The party notices that there’s no sign of any attackers; and no evident wounds; but upon closer examination that the dwarves were killed by arrows – and Morsus spots a black ash around the wounds and verifies it’s the same poison that poisoned the water supply and apple (Natural 20 on Survival check!) He also discovers that the poison acts with the blood and not only causes immediate weakness (as Adrian had experienced), but will then wear down the person’s constitution and begin to devour the flesh from the inside as a vicious bacteria, causing what appears to be states of decay.
• The party hears someone moaning; and goes to check and meets Rex Flamehammer, who is saved by Adrian’s quick thinking
• The party notices he’s standing over the body of a female… elf by the looks of it. Sephrenia recognizes the woman as a Dark Elf. She knows the history of the Dark Elves, according to Lore – that when the world was being created and the Elves entered the world; The High Elves (such as herself) did not care for the world outside so they built a wall around their home; one branch defected and believed that the walls defied the very nature of their goddess and those elves became the Wild (or Wood) Elves. Still another defected, sensing that Elves were born with the latent ability to wield magic, and sought to make war with everyone and conquer the world to bring it under their rule. However, they were driven away, and fled deep underground into an area known as The Shadowlands where they prospered for thousands of years, learning magic like none has ever seen before. Their skin became charcoal black as a means of survival to blend into the very shadows they’d become a part of; but some believe that it was a curse by their goddess to reflect the blackness of their souls. The Dark Elves rejected Nifika, the goddess of all elves and embraced some dark goddess that the surface world does not know how to pronounce.
• Rex Flamehammer goes on to explain that the Dark Elves have started a civil war among the Dwarves. He believes that they have begun poisoning their water supply and crafting arrows from the Black Oak trees, grown exclusively on the property of the Blackoak clan (Thoris Blackoak’s family) and began murdering dwarves, to make it look like the Blackoak clan who is not only the clan that controls the water supply but also has the unique black oak trees on their property as an attempt to overthrow King Thariak Froststorm.
• He goes on to explain that a Dark Elf emissary entered the Kingdom, unarmed and under the flag of parlay to speak to the King. The emissary explained that the Illithid (Mind Flayers) have made an alliance with some of the Clans to overthrow the king, if they agreed to help the Illithid be rid of the Dark Elves, who were waging a war on two fronts; against the Illithid and the Dwarves.
• The Dark Elf explained that the King would need to watch out for what families were attacking and that they might already be. The King noted the recent poison of water supply; and a few days later, several dwarves turned up with black oak arrows in them. The king demanded that the Blackoak Clan surrender; which they did not – and several other Clans sided with the Blackoak (including his own, the Flamehammer) – and the King immediately began seeking to arrest any “Blackoak Sympathizers.”
• Despite this; neither the Blackoak nor the Flamehammer want the King killed; they believe the Dark Elves are behind whatever madness has gripped him and need to find a way to prove it.
• However, though the Dark Elves typically recover their dead, according to Rex Flamehammer, those that have been brought forth, the Dark Elf emissary who has now found a seat at the king’s side will either claim to not recognize “the rogue dark elf” or the king believes it’s the Blackoak sympathizers trying to lie and get close to the King.
• Adrian explains that they found the wagon; and decides to leave the sword and shield with Rex Flamehammer, as well as the arrow; as Rex explains that the party should try to avoid any dwarves as both sides of this war are extremely nervous and tense, especially towards people they don’t know – and if they encounter any dwarves; don’t say what side they’re on without first trying to learn what side the dwarves are on.
• Morsus asks about cleaning the water supply; the original reason they were brought here; and Rex Flamehammer explains that both sides (the King and Blackoak) want the same thing; however, both are so nervous now, that it may be difficult to explain anything – but it was definitely worth a shot.