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• Arhian Vos – Human Monk
• Hartmut Helmsworth – Elf Monk
• Sindri Waggletop – (Forest) Gnome Wizard – Not Present
• Rettniss Kulvith – Water Genasi Druid
• Avacyn “Jolyne” Uloth the Merciless – Half-Orc Paladin
• Twilight Skybane – Tiefling Bard

• The party hears someone calling to them from above; and gazing up they see someone adorned in Master attire and quickly make their way up the spiral stairs

• The party halts in their tracks, however as they reach the top of the stairs and see two familiar, mystical figures!

• The human Master of the Temple, a monk by the name of Shujin Gorudo, stands calmly next to the two mystical creatures, seemingly unnerved by their majestic presence as he greets the party
• Shujin explains that the Hobgoblins – lead by a powerful Hobgoblin Priest – have taken the two Cestus’ – the Cestus of Kyoaku-Sei and the Cestus of Seikaku-Sa (The Violence and the Peace, respectively). And that when someone wears one on each hand – they wear The Balance which the Hobgoblin Priest somehow knew about
• Shujin explains the Hobgoblins went to the Riddle Door – which is different for everyone who approaches it – solved the riddle and entered The Realm – a magical dimension where the tome that explains where the sacred blood of the ancient Hobgoblin has been kept hidden; and that it’s urgent that the party stop him at any cost
• Shujin explains he could not stop the hobgoblins himself; because of what he is – and he can only teach and train – so that mortals can determine their destiny
• He then shows his true form…

• Shujin offers a cryptic warning, “Beware of the one who seeks your heart, and the other who seeks your emotions.”
• The party agrees and heads down the path – and reaches a large stone door against no walls – and just floats – a young Monk sits in front of the door, glowing, and levitating in front of the door. Symbols appear on the door and the young monk, without open his eyes says:

She is the key
And though her blood is tainted – she has found religion.
Water is key to life
He must turn the key north
And unlock the magic
Of the song.

• On the wall the following symbols appear:

Fist
Slit
Cup
Fist
Wand
String

• Arhian looks at the symbols, and listens to the riddle, “I believe this is one for each of us. When he says ‘key’ – he’s meaning Ki energy – and since it says ‘she’ – the first sounds like me. The tainted blood and religion could be Avacyn. Water is you,” she points to Rettniss, “and he must turn the key – this is probably Ki – and he being Hartmut. Unlock the magic is Sindri, and the song is Twilight.”
• Arhian places her fist inside the first fist slot – and channels her Ki into it and it glows
• Avacyn reaches out and touches the slit; and suddenly the fist icon goes blank and it glows again
• They look to Avacyn – and believe she needs to bleed into the second slit – so she cuts her palm and bleeds into it – and suddenly the fist slot that Arhian had goes dead
• “Well, that was incorrect,” Arhian sighs as she places her fist into the first slot, expending another Ki point – which makes it glow once again
• Avacyn looks closely at the slit – and realizes the blade of her axe – which is named after the Orc God, Grumthak called Grumthak’s Blessing – would fit – and it would explain her “tainted blood” (half orc) and the “found religion” – as she found this weapon on her sister after defeating her (Session 8), and the slit the axe blade is inserted to, glows
• Rettniss uses the ability to Create Water and fills the cup; and the cup glows
• All eyes turn to Hartmut
• Hartmut places his fist into the slot and turns it clock wise; all the glowing symbols cease glowing; Arhian heaves a deep sigh
• “We need a rest,” Arhian explains, feeling the need to refocus her Ki points
• The party takes a brief rest; and thinks the clue over
• Rettniss explains that perhaps, Arhian needs to be turned north
• The party repeats the steps, getting back to Hartmut’s step
• Arhian says, “I believe yours is similar to mine – it requires Ki energy.”
• Hartmut nods, inserts his fist, expends a Ki point and turns his fist so that his thumb points up, and the symbol glows
• Sindri looks at the hole – and realizes his Wand of Magic Missile would fit – and places it in there; and the magic rune glows
• Twilight approaches, and begins playing her hurdie-gurdie which makes the metallic strings vibrate on the symbol, and they too glow
• With all the symbols correctly glowing; a portal opens where the doorway once was

• The party peers inside and sees a mountain region – but it is different than the one they’re on
• Sindri looks at the others, “I can’t do more mountains. I will wait here for now.” (DM Note – Sindri was absent this session; so this was an easy excuse to excuse him from the rest of the session; and simply have him “catch up” to the party the next session if he’s present)
• The others peer into the doorway – and see a thin path going downward, but the mountain path is full of snow
• A biting cold greets each of them as they step through the portal

• Avacyn spots several humanoid tracks on the snowy path in front of them and confirms it’s hobgoblin tracks – about six to eight of them (Natural 20 Perception)
• A few steps in – they realize that the snow is knee deep and that the air seems considerably thinner at this height of the peek; the chilling air, stinging the back of their throats
• Wearing the heavy armor, Avacyn gains a level of Exhaustion (only one to fail Constitution Savings Throw; got a Critical Fail)
• The party continues, best they can, trudging through the snow, their throats burning, lungs feeling empty, and eventually hear what appears to be the cries of a woman screaming for help; the screams seem to be coming from over the ledge, where the woman pleads that she’s fallen off the ledge and is barely hanging on
• The party debates on helping her; and figure that if they stop – the hobgoblins could get further away. Hartmut turns and faces Twilight and says, “Maybe it’s a woman who can offer some really good tea?” (Reference to Session 14)
• Arhian points out that there’s evidence of some kind of scuffle near the ledge, and that someone may have slid off the ledge. The party decides, they should go and investigate; and Arhian looks over the ledge, and can see another ledge further down – and perhaps a small cave there, where someone may be trapped. She turns to the others and points out, she sees something
• Arhian throws the rope down and shouts, “Climb up.”
• The unseen woman below shouts, “My hands are frozen… hurt… If I try to climb… I am afraid I will fall.”
• The party shakes their head – and finally agree – they should see if it’s truly a woman in need. Looking among them, only Hartmut is without any form of level of exhaustion making him the most likely candidate to successfully descend down the rope

• Hartmut ties the rope around his waist and slowly descends down. He reaches the small ledge and peers into the mountain cavern and it’s only a few feet deep where he doesn’t see anyone
• Just then, those on the ledge begin screaming – as they see a large bird creature diving for Hartmut and another diving for them

• Hearing the party, Hartmut turns his head and sees the bird doing a nose dive straight at him; not taking the time to examine the bird (failed Nature check), doubling his movement, Hartmut clearly gets up the rope to ensure he’s not dangling by a rope
• Arhian helps Hartmut up and knocks his arrow – and looks at the strange bird, and also doesn’t recognize the bird, he simply fires the longbow which misses, as she realizes she didn’t anticipate the speed and grace of this unusual creature
• Feeling exhausted, Rettniss can barely focus – launching frost bolt (in this chilly mountain top) the Peryton still takes the damage – officially hit for the first time
• Twilight tries to identify the beast; having traveled with the pirate crew she was with, and hearing a number of stories from fellow bards, but she’s not able to determine what it is – and simply casts Bane on both of the creatures, which it also fails to save against
• Avacyn tries to identify the bird creature, and also does not recognize it, and sacrifices one of her javelins – throwing it at the bird and hitting
• Seeing Arhian with more bows and arrows, the first Peryton focuses its attack on Arhian; landing three hits – a gore, talons, and extra damage from the dive attack – doing nearly full damage on the dive hit; this downs Arhian, who crumples; despite the beast being baned as well as having disadvantage on one of the attack
• The second one dives at Twilight, doing the same three attacks, gore, talons and the dive attack; which sends Twilight collapsing to the floor
• Hartmut kneels down next to Arhian and tries to use Medicine check to balance Arhian; but in the chaos he’s unable to; frustrated he unleashes two hits of flurry of blows – dealing some damage – and Hartmut notices he’s managed to bloody it
• Arhian successfully makes her first Death Savings Throw
• Rettniss casts Entangle but the Peryton is able to avoid it
• Twilight also makes her first successful Death Savings Throw
• Avacyn swings her massive Great Axe of Grumthak’s Blessing, however, it misses
• The first Peryton attacks Hartmut for being attacked and manages one hit, but Hartmut is able to avoid the other attack
• The second Peryton goes after Avacyn, since she’d thrown a spear at it
• Hartmut manages a successful Medicine check with stabilizes Arhian
• Rettniss attempts to use Medicine on Twilight, but fails to do so; but as a bonus action casts Healing Word for some minor heals; but that is enough to bring Arhian up to 4 points
• Twilight makes a successful Death Save
• Avacyn uses Lay On Hands to stabilize Twilight
• The Peryton tries to gore Hartmut, doing a Critical Fail, wounding itself
• The second Peryton tries to Gore Avacyn, but misses, but the Talons dig deep
• Hartmut draws his magic short sword and hits – doing some damage – then attempts to use Unarmed Strike, however, Critical Fails and manages to punch Rettniss
• Arhian is able to stand, get her magical quarterstaff and manages to hit the Peryton, smashing its skull with the quarterstaff; she turns to the second Peryton, her first flurry of blows misses; but the second lands a hit
• Rettniss casts Cure Wounds on Twilight bringing her back to her feet
• Twilight manages to grab her crossbow and manages to hit the Peryton, which officially becomes bloody
• Avacyn brings her axe down on the Peryton, severing its wings, then crushing the creature’s skull beneath her feet
• The party takes a quick rest, recovering some health and quaffing potions after the Peryton ordeal before proceeding further down the trail
• As they reach a portion of the path – it’s clear it’s been slicked over with ice – undoubtedly the hobgoblins melted the snow here – so it would freeze – causing a slick and dangerous path (This was the “event” that happened due to the party needing to short rest at the Riddle Door, buying the Hobgoblins time to get further ahead)
• Hartmut tries to use an oil flask to melt the ice, but the flash slides off the ledge and catches fire
• The party discusses how to get past the 10 foot ice path without potentially sliding off to their doom, when Twilight suddenly attempts to slide across on her stomach, using her daggers – but she fails to dig the dagger deep into the ice, and in a panic releases the dagger to allow her fingers to get a hold of the slick ice – her dagger slides off the cliff side (landing next to the burning flask), and Twilight curses, but at least she was able to successfully grab the ice; now the party finds that not only do they need to cross the ice path, but they must now also rescue Twilight who is in a precarious position; sliding off the ledge could lead to her plummeting nearly two hundred feet down
• The party eventually gets it together, and uses a rope to get it near Twilight, while tying one end; Twilight manages to get the rope and slowly slides down to the other side. She then ties the rope on her side to something; and the party makes their way down the ice path
• The party, beaten and tired make it to the base of the mountain, where it seems to empty out into a swamp
• “Well,” Arhian wrinkles her nose at the odor, “this is pleasant. We should camp here where it’s still dry before we proceed further.”
• The party hears the natural sounds of the swamp all around them; and Arhian and Twilight take the first watch and notice several lights – as if they were lanterns in the swamp

• Twilight suddenly loses focus of all reality – and sees her mother in the swamp beckoning her. She saw her mother, Abrigal Skybane – hand extended – asking her daughter to come out to her, to see her
• Arhian saw Twilight rise and begin heading into the swamp; and noticed her trance like state, quickly pounced on Twilight and restrained her; shouting to the others to get up and be aware something is in the swamp
• The others see Arhian restraining Twilight; at that moment Avacyn suddenly sees her mother, and telling her about the Glory of the Broken Hand (and despite using Inspiration, she fails again)
• Rettniss quickly casts Entangle which Avacyn fails to break out of
• Hartmut uses Silence to keep everything quiet around them; preventing the call of the Will O’ Wisps
• Eventually the party manages to get Twilight and Avacyn to come to their senses, and they keep their back to the swamp and the strange lights
• The party discusses what they’ve encountered so far, and with the little rest Hartmut was able to now recall the birds are Perytons, which feast on the hearts of humanoids; and that the creatures in the swamp are Will O’ The Wisp, which lure people into the swamp where quicksand is; and feed off their dying energy
• The party is able to finally get a long rest.

TO BE CONTINUED?

You Bet!