Want to help? Consider becoming a Patreon.

These notes are for The Arrival characters/game.

The party is currently:

• Calliope Laurelleaf – Halfling Bard
• Ellyjobell – Gnome Ranger
• Phalen – High Elf Cleric
• Talerien – Wood Elf Ranger
• Trogdorr – Dragonborn Barbarian
• Twirpo – Hill Dwarf Wizard

Resting in the home of Arvil, the old wizard, the party recoups some of their health before pressing on.

• The following morning while the party rests, Elly scouts ahead
  • She follows the path and sees it passes through a make shift, potter’s field
  • An uneasy cold comes from the graveyard and the swamp land at the base of the hill leading into the Blackland Swamp
  • She decides to take a few steps away from the graveyard and wait for the others
  • Trogdorr and Calliope decide to go through the graveyard, following the path, while Elly and Phalen go on the outside (on the west side) and Twirpo and Talerien go on the outside (on the east side)
  • In the graveyard, Calliope notices bodies coming out of some of the shallow graves, and the duo race through the graveyard and step into the fog near the Blackland Swamps
  • The others notice the dead rising and Elly and Phalen decide to quickly run into the swamp
  • Talerian seems hesitant feeling something unnatural about the swamp; but with the dead rising, he and Twirpo know that going into the swamp is the best idea
• When Trogdorr and Calliope stepped through the fog, they found themselves teleported deep into the swamps, with no sign of the others
  • When Elly and Phalen step through and are similarly teleported, they’re not reunited with Trogdorr and Calliope, but Elly spots them are they’re reunited
  • When Talerian and Twirpo are teleported through the swamp, it’s Twirpo who spots the others and reunites them
• Trogdorr, Calliope and Phalen are able to pick up the Kobold tracks and follow it until the tracks split in two different directions
• Twirpo does a detect magic; and is overcome with magic and sees a face, shrouded in darkness with golden eyes and shouts, “Die!” before yanking her back to reality and shaking her
  • Talerian notices the prints heading west are slightly deeper, meaning they might have been carrying something, so the party heads west
• The party finds a small cavern and enters the cavern
  • Trogdorr takes the lead, using a torch
  • Unfortunately he triggers a trap which alerts a band of goblins living down below
  • The goblins rush up and are met with Trogdorr’s flaming breath weapon, which incinerates four of the goblins to death
  • The party chases the remaining goblins down where they’re confronted by a total of 8 goblins and a leader
  • The party begins cutting through the goblins, and the armored goblin boss unleashes a bag of stirges into the air
  • Phalen is cut deeply and forced to back up
  • Elly backs up with her
  • With the stirges released, Talerian backs up, using a torch to keep them at bay
  • Calliope uses a cantrip to snuff out the torches
  • Twirpo uses a spell to try and hit the boss who is now in the middle of casting a spell
    • She hits his throne, destroying it
  • Trogdorr manages to land a hit with the javelin
  • Calliope uses the same cantrip this time to light the torches
  • Trogdorr runs past the few remaining goblins and lands a critical hit on the boss, killing him
  • The remaining two goblins surrender
  • Calliope uses a Charm spell to charm one of the goblins
  • Trogdorr finds a locked chest (partially buried beneath the crumbled throne)
  • Elly finds a key on the boss goblin; but it doesn’t seem to work
    • She then notices the key was damaged during combat
    • Twirpo uses Mend to fix the key
    • The key unlocks the chest and inside:
      • 30 gold
      • A Hand on a small stick
        • Twirpo uses Identify on the hand stick
        • Discovers it’s necromancy and it has Chilling Touch on it (10 charges)
        • Elly takes the Chilling Touch wand and puts it in her bag, and feels it moving
  • The party rests in the cave, taking a short rest
    • During the watch, Elly hears something that sounds like frogs and recognizes that it’s not “natural” frog sounds
    • When Calliope is awakened after the rest, her goblin companion (still charmed) informs her it was Bullywugs, and tells her that her how to get around them
    • Calliope asks about a wizard, and the goblin explains that he knows who she is talking about and can take the party close
    • The party follows the charmed goblins who leads them to the edge of the swamp where there’s a forest
    • Talerien notices that the forest is devoid of any natural sounds
    • The party moves into the forest and Phalen, Calliope and Twirpo find themselves being attacked by Blight Vines
      • Calliope casts Thunderwave which shatters the roots
      • They notice that the trees and plants actually bleed blood
      • Calliope asks her goblin “friend” about it and he explains that the Dark One has been killing many, the plants and trees have fed off the blood
      • The party enters and notices a small cabin in the middle of a clearing
      • Elly sneaks up to the cabin and peaks in the window and sees a hooded figure casting a spell; and there’s a woman on an altar
      • Elly sneaks back and tells the party, and the party rushes in, busting down the door
      • Trogdorr rushes in and swings and hits the hooded figure
      • The hooded figure begins casting a spell
      • Calliope casts a Sleep spell, unfortunately it impacts Trogdorr and spares the hooded figure who’s magical abilities seem to provide him a higher resistance
      • Trogdorr is awaken by Twirpo’s spell, and rises and strikes the hooded figure and renders him unconscious
      • The party ties and gags the hooded figure and discover the woman on the alter is dead; her chest cut open from the neck to her waist line
      • The party also finds a crystal ball with the image of another woman, who seems to be crying inside the crystal ball
      • Elly finds the hooded figure’s diary and reads about how he had used magic to create the Chilling Touch wand to have a local goblin boss be employed to capture and kidnap women to bring to him, so that he could practice the necromancy to raise a dead dragon (but in truth, he was using it to try and master the necromancy spell that would allow him to export his mother’s soul from the crystal ball into a human body)
      • Gathering all of the evidence and parchments, the party then hauls it all through a cart found on the property (and keeping the necromancer, Varek, tied and gagged)
      • Calliope recognizes the necromancer’s name as the son of the old man who had asked them to recover the crystal ball (who supposedly ran away over 6 years ago and was never seen again)
  • Outside the city gates, Calliope releases the goblin from the charm spell, but finds the goblins is actually infatuated with her (having never been treated so kindly before) and tells her his name is Gavark.
    • She tells him to run to the forest, and Gavark is clearly heart broken to be separated from her
• The party brings it all back to the city and turn it in to the Church
• Trogdorr attempts to steal the Crystal Ball, but is caught by the party who scold him
• Elly wanting to learn more about moving through the shadows makes a contact with a local rogue, who points her out to a store to purchase some equipment that could help her “enhance” her skills
• The party is invited to the “trial” of Varek and Arvil
  • Calliope can not bare to be there, since she had promised to try and help Arvil
    • Trogdorr doesn’t care to be there, and decides to stay at the tavern and eat
    • The rest of the party attends the hanging
  • Varek, with all the proof is found guilty, immediately, and hung
  • While Arvil doesn’t have as much evidence, it’s clear he practiced some necromancy and is hung

• The following night, as Phalen sleeps she finds her dreams are something unusual…
  • An angelic being appears in her dream, and she finds herself floating in her dream
  • The angelic being tells her that she must stop the summoning and get “The Dark Blade”
  • The angelic being touches her forehead and she sees a vision of an ancient oak tree, the size like nothing she’d ever seen before
  • There’s people gathered around the tree chanting
  • The leaves seem to be falling from the oak tree at an excessive speed
  • One of the men stabs the tree and pulls the blade out
    • In doing so a woman seemingly falls out of the tree
    • The man grabs her and stakes her to the tree
    • He then slits her throat and gathers her blood and drinks it
    • The tree splits open and a large demon emerges
  • The angelic being again reminds her to stop the summoning and get “The Dark Blade” and bring it to the High Priest
  • Phalen suddenly wakes up, dripping in sweat…

• Calliope Laurelleaf – Halfling Bard
• Ellyjobell – Gnome Ranger
• Phalen – High Elf Cleric
• Talerien – Wood Elf Ranger
• Trogdorr – Dragonborn Barbarian
• Twirpo – Hill Dwarf Wizard