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• Arhian Vos – Human Monk
• Hartmut Helmsworth – Elf Monk
• Sindri Waggletop – (Forest) Gnome Wizard
• Rettniss Kulvith – Water Genasi Druid
• Avacyn “Jolyne” Uloth the Merciless – Half-Orc Paladin
• Twilight Skybane – Tiefling Bard

• The party gathers together, inside of the Pegasus Wing Tavern to discuss their next move
• They go through their supplies, to see if they need potions, rope, or any spare equipment
• The party go the stables and get their mounts, and check their equipment, then begin their ride towards the lake where Arhian and Twilight had met the spirit in the well
• As the party rides towards the lake – red lightning pierces the sky – and they pause and look as the twin moons come to pass before the sun

• “The Hollowing,” Sindri mutters knowing what that means
  • During this time the barrier between life and death is at its weakest
  • Spirits often find a way to break through the veil and haunt the living
  • Demons escape the planes of damnation and seek to steal the souls of children as they’re being born; this leads to either stillborn or children born without souls (“The Hollow” is a name for stillborn and the soulless; the soulless who survive the experience grow up with great evil in their hearts)
  • People learned that dressing up as demons discouraged demons from approaching their homes, thinking demons had already claimed the home
  • Also demonic looking figures often discouraged demons; this was discovered when a large pumpkin was carved and kept demons at bay
  • So it’s become a day where people dress up, create demonic looking pumpkins, put scary things in yards, all in hopes of keeping spirits and demons at bay
  • The people often wander the streets and visit other homes, to convince spirits and demons that the home have been claimed
• Sindri also knows, that during The Hollowing, another side effect with the veil being at its weakest, is the chaos of magic becomes extremely wild (something Sindri would come to learn tonight.. dramatic music!)
• The party arrives at the lake and looks around; they ponder what to do with their mounts, knowing they could ride them into the woods towards the monastery
• That’s when the party notices, as the rain begins the fall; the only sound they hear is the rain water hitting the lake, and the labored breathing of their mounts; there’s no sounds of birds, no rabbits or foxes dashing around; and the horses seem unusually restless – something is definitely off – and it can undoubtedly be blamed on the unusual events that can happen thanks to The Hollowing
• Sindri points out that his pony, Clover, does not want to go into the forest
• The party heads to the edge of the forest and ties their mounts to trees just inside so that passerby would not spot them easily
• DM Note – I made the party roll survival to tie the horses; and looked for a group pass or fail – and it was split down the middle with 3 success, 3 fails; the party determined that Hartmut should roll the tie breaker because he’d been rolling so well – and let’s see what happened…

• As the party heads into the woods, they realize that the Hollowing is further impairing their vision (effectively cutting all vision and dark vision in half) due to the unnatural darkness the Hollowing creates; and made worse by the canopy of trees, that seem to purposely be weaving their limbs together to prevent any form of light to pierce the top
• To make matters worse, as the party enters the woods; they hear constant whispering around them as they, causing further disorientation – with whispers saying, “Turn left”, “Turn right”, “Wait here”, all of which sound like they’re coming from their companions, as Rettniss continues to lead the party deeper and deeper into the woods
• Arhian, Twilight and Avacyn quickly realize something is wrong as the Rettniss before them seems to evaporate and as they look around, they don’t see Hartmut, Rettniss or Sindri anywhere around them
• Rettniss, Hartmut and Sindri notice that it’s gotten quiet behind them and pause and are surprised to see their three companions (Arhian, Twilight and Avacyn) are nowhere to be found
• Sindri calls out for Arhian, telling the rest that they’ve gotten separated
• Arhian hears Sindri’s voice calling out for them
• Arhian starts heading for where he thinks Sindri’s voice is coming from
  • DM Note – This is the same thing I did for the Off Week Game, when the party entered the woods – and entered the “Web of Lies” – where the party members would roll a D4 to represent North, East, South and West – as to where the “voices” are coming from while the forest continues to try and disorient them as an effect from The Hollowing
• Sindri sees Arhian heading the complete wrong way – and Sindri shouts to turn right to turn towards with them, and shouts, “Don’t listen to me – listen to where I tell you to go”
• However, the Hollowing impacts Sindri’s words, so all Arhian hears is, “Don’t listen to me”
• Sindri watches as Arhian is clearly walking in circles around the same three trees, puzzled by her actions, but knowing that it’s the Hollowing impeding Arhian’s sense of reality or at the very least her senses
• Rettniss decides they need to tie the rope to one another and go “fetch” Arhian – with Sindri walking confidently in their direction – but as he gets closer – the image of Arhian disappears and Sindri mutters, “I hate the Hollowing.”
• Avacyn listens – and whispers, “I think I hear people coming.” A moment later she hears a growling sound. She whispers, “I hear a one headed version of that three headed dog from legends.”
• “You mean a dog,” Gem squaks
• Avacyn shakes her head, “No. Bigger. Like that two headed dog we fought near the spirit hag.”
• “That had two heads,” Gem squaks. “Half-Orc can’t count.”
• Arhian draws her quarterstaff
• Sindri sees Arhian (Natural 20 on Perception) draw her quarterstaff and looking directly at Sindri, with threatening intention in her eyes, bracing for combat
• Arhian sees Sindri (successful Wisdom Savings Throw against the Illusion) and explains that Avacyn hears some kind of dog out here
• Rettniss shouts, “Tell her to grab the rope! And tell everyone else to grab it too!”
• Sindri shouts, “Did anyone else just hear that?”
  • DM Note – I’d sent Sindri a private message that states, You hear a woman’s voice, “All is not what it appears.”
• Sindri asks, “Arhian, what’s the name of your pet raccoon?”
• Arhian looks at Sindri, puzzled, “I don’t have a raccoon. I have a pet red panda, named Pabu.”
• Sindri turns to Hartmut, “I should have had you ask a question of Arhian, but we’re past that. Do you want to ask Avacyn or Twilight a question to verify who they are?”
• Hartmut nods, “In the caves, who did we meet?”
• Avacyn shrugs, “My mom.”
• Sindri asks, “What’s your mom’s name?”
• “Jacqueline,” Avacyn answers.
• “And which family member did we have to kill?” Hartmut presses.
• “My sister,” Avacyn shrugs
• “We’re really messed up,” Sindri mutters beneath his breath
• Rettniss looks at Twilight, “What did we go shopping for?”
• “Your date,” Twilight responds
• “What did we purchase?” Rettniss asks
• “A dress,” Twilight answers
• Rettniss nods in agreement
• “I don’t like the Hollowing,” Sindri emphasizes
• The party remains connected to the rope with the marching order of: Hartmut, Rettniss, Twilight, Sindri, Arhian and then Avacyn
• Hartmut is able to successfully led the party through the whispering woods and reach the base of the Path of Enlightenment
• Gazing upward, they can see what appears to be people moving about, but there seems to be something very odd… they seem…. ghostly in nature… which, with the Hollowing causing the veil between life and death to be at it’s weakest point… would not be surprising… the path upward, however, looks incredibly steep and dangerous…
• Gazing up Hartmut and Arhian both recognize the structures to be of those that come from Utsukkuen

• Twilight has heard of stories of those from Utsukkuen will sometimes rise during the Hollowing and proceed to do the work they did when they were alive; and Hartmut and Arhian explain that it’s not so much the soul-energy, but their Ki-energy returning back to the world
• Sindri points out that this is really a bad night to be doing this; because the Hollowing makes his magic very unreliable (DM Note – Unbeknownst to us all, Sindri was foreshadowing what the dice would do to him…)
• Arhian points out the Spirit in the Well warned them that Hobgoblins were marching up the monastery to attack and gain information about their sacred bloodlines
• As the party proceeds up the Path of Enlightenment – there is a small house on the side of the mountain hill that seems as if had been rummaged through recently – undoubtedly by the hobgoblins

• The party approaches the door – and is surprised when a woman opens the door – and sees the party – and she seems surprised to see humans, and not hobgoblins
• She, unlike those they’d seen further up the path – does not look like a Ki Spirit, but rather a physical person
• Arhian and Hartmut look at the woman – and she looks like an older, female Monk, and nothing seems out of the ordinary
• Hartmut and Arhian agree that she’s safe and approach the door; the rest of the party follows
• The woman bows to Arhian and Hartmut, recognizing them as fellow Monks, and she says that the Hobgoblins – an army of them – roughly around sixty of them – and one of them looked like some kind of Hobgoblin Priest – and that she’d been hit and knocked unconscious, and she assumes that the Hobgoblins believe she’d died in the attack – she beckons them to rush inside the house so the hobgoblins don’t spot them – she’s thankful they’re here because she was just about to leave and seek help.
• Arhian asks about the defense of the Monastery – she explains there isn’t much of one – because the Path of Enlightenment is such a long climb, and the air gets thin, that those not accustomed to the climb and the thin air – typically were easily defeated – however, the hobgoblins seemed well trained – and marched past me after they attacked with great ease
• She offers the party drink of jasmine cherry blossom and some dry cookies; Twilight accepts the offer of tea; ignoring Sindri who is subtly trying to gesture to Twilight not to drink the tea
• Arhian asks the woman for her name and she says, “Azamu Ku’koto.”
• Arhian thanks her for her hospitality and asks if there’s a hidden way up to the top; and Azamu explains there is not; Hartmut asks if any of the Monks have come down the path, and she explains none have, which is why she was about to go seek help just before the party arrived
• Hartmut explains they should probably make haste up the Path of Enlightenment and the others agree, except for Twilight, who says that she will stay behind
• Sindri looks shocked
• His eyes stare at her – and Sindri notices (Insight roll) that her eyes are very dilated; Sindri asks for some tea; and Twilight hands him the tea and he proceeds to dump it out
• Azamu looks offended as Sindri asks what was put into the tea to enchant Twilight
• Arhian notices that the black painted walls are moving slightly – and then takes notice – it’s actually millions of tiny black spiders; and the woman suddenly sprouts spider legs from her back

• Arhian and Hartmut recognize her as a Jorogumo Yokai – a form of demon that was from the Utsukkuen lore; that posed as a beautiful women who would lure people into trusting her; often using food or tea to incapacitate its victims and devouring them
• The Jorogumo Yokai senses that Rettniss can heal (DM Note – Rolled a D6 to see who it would attack and it landed on Rettniss) and proceeds to lunge forward and bites him two out of the three times, instantly bloodying Rettniss
• Rettniss moves into a position to cast Entangle – and feels the magic crackle around her – but she manages to keep it focused – and lands the Entangle – and the Jorogumo Yokai fails the savings throw and finds itself entangled in the vines
• Rettniss then quickly quaffs a potion, restoring some health
• Arhian swings her quarterstaff with Advantage – but misses; but her unarmed strike hits (Natural 20! Critical Hit!)
• Sindri releases a volley of Magic Missile from his Wand of Magic Missile; and delivers a hit
• Harmut swings with his magic shortsword and misses; but lands an unarmed strike that hits
• Twilight, free of the Jorogumo Yokai’s influence, uses her rapier and misses, despite getting very close; the demon’s spidery leg batting the attack away
• Avacyn jumps in with the Great Axe of Grumthak’s Blessing and hits hard
• The demon’s legs move about, as she whispers – and everyone is forced to make a Dexterity Savings Throw as she casts Faerie Fire on the party
  • Arhian and Sindri both glow purple
• She lunges for Sindri who uses his reaction to cast Shield – however, he loses control of the magic due to the Hollowing – and triggers wild magic (DM Note – it’s a 60% chance or higher to trigger the wild magic; Sindri rolled a 79 – then on the Wild Chart, rolled 29 – which has the result of You instantly go down to 0 Hit Points) – so Sindri loses control of the magic that jolts back down through his body – and shocks him down 0 hit points
• Seeing Sindri drop, the Jorogumo Yokai turns her attention to Arhian and lands a solid hit on her
• Rettniss rushes to Sindri’s side and does a successful Medicine check to stabilize Sindri
• Arhian lands a hit with the magic quarterstaff – then a flurry of blows – all of which connect – windmilling her staff and bringing a crushing blow to her skull, and lands several kicks, until she hears the creature’s neck snap, and the body collapses
• Hartmut stops Rettniss from casting Cure Wounds and pours a healing potion down Sindri’s throat; as Sindri slowly sits up he growls, “I hate the Hollowing.”
• Arhian also quaffs their own healing potion
• Sindri casts Mage Armor – and once again – loses control of the magic – but this time, he loses the ability to hear for one day
• Rettniss gestures to Sindri – and makes several gestures – and casts Lesser Restoration – and manages to keep control of the magic and heals Sindri’s deafness
• The party also decides to take a short rest
• After the short rest, the party makes its way up the Path of Enlightenment and see tracks that clearly indicate that there were hobgoblins that have marched up; and there are corpses of humans and elves as well as hobgoblins that have been tossed off the cliff side
• Pushing up the Path of Enlightenment – each step requires more and more strength – and the air begins to get thinner – Rettniss gets winded (One Level of Exhaustion – which means Disadvantage on any skill/ability checks). Hartmut gets a Natural 20 and covers double the amount of space needed, feeling rather Enlightened
• Pushing further; Hartmut against exceeds the Constitution Savings throw; while everyone else failed – so everyone has 1 level of exhaustion, however Rettniss now has 2 levels of exhaustion
• The party finally reaches the top; and sees a large combat happening in the field between Hobgoblins and Monks – and there’s one that’s noticeable – barking commands – and as Monks fall, it makes gestures and turns the fallen Monks, transforming their bodies in Hobgoblins

• Sindri quickly realizes that the hobgoblin casting spells is using Necromancy; which is typically not impacted by the Hollowing since it’s pulling from dark resources
• As Sindri looks around, he sees his vision doesn’t seem impaired by the darkness the Hollowing typically invokes; and quickly realizes that it seems as if the Monastery is protected itself from the Hollowing

• She growls, “<Attack!>” in a language that Arhian and Hartmut recognize as being native to Utsukkuen
• Battle breaks out as the party – with the unusual Hobgoblin rolling a Natural 20, but so does Sindri, while Avacyn rolls a Critical Fail
• The hobgoblin launches several darts and shurikens – which find their marks in the party members
• Sindri fires of a Fire Bolt spells then uses Fog Cloud to cover the battle field
• The battle goes back and forth; with the party doing well, but then Rettniss goes down to exactly 0; despite being exhausted Sindri is able to do a Medicine check and pulls it off, stabilizing Rettniss and Twilight uses a healing potion to bring Rettniss back to the world of the living
• Arhian is able to get through the Hobgoblins and pummels the unusual Hobgoblin – striking him so hard that she kicks him off the cliff side to his death
• The deceased monks revert to their true forms
• From up above, Master Shujin calls the party to come to the top of the temple

TO BE CONTINUED.