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• Anathema Haniel – Tiefling Paladin (Oath of Redemption)
• Grace Obadiah – Aasimar Cleric (Twilight)
• Kasumi Makaio Iolani – Goliath Monk (Way of the Four Elements)
• Skrizz – Tabaxi Rogue (Soul Knife)

Two ago, several Churches reported that their gods had gone silent – Airana, goddess of fertility; Akanda, god of travel; Drakenfhel, god of wisdom; Elenar, god of wind, fire and water; Krauzden, god of wind and flight, Lauhzar, goddess of winter, Tavara, goddess of weather, and Tearak, god of judgement – all of them had gone silent. Eventually the clerics confirmed – their gods had perished during a battle in the heavens when Lakrona, Mistress of the Web, ascended. (DM Note – this was the conclusion of a large, 28 session story line, concluding in Session 41!)

While all deities are highly regarded; the death of Airana, whom many called on for favor of fertility… Drakenfiel, the god of Wisdom’s demise, caused mass panic, as Drakenfiel was someone the gods had turned to… and Tearak, the God of Judgement… now souls, slain were caught in the nether realm – their souls unable to be judged…

Churches gathered and discussed what must be done – all of these events all seemed to stem from the far continent.

A year or so after, a white light event happened – and suddenly many were gifted with incredible knowledge and magic – once again, this event triggered back to the far continent of Vareen.

The largest Church, the Church of Florasena had begun collecting some of these relics that were coming from Vareen and studying them with great interest – many of them were ancient and crackling with magical energy. These relics caught the attention of a Tabaxi Rogue named Skrizz, whom the Church had been alerted to by some unknown source, that they were going to be infiltrated by the Tabaxi and had managed to capture him using a magical trap. Skrizz wasn’t taken into custody however; instead, he was brought beneath the Church and kept in their prison and questioned.

Elsewhere in the Church, Grace Obadiah, an Aasimar Twilight Cleric was called into the office of the Archpriest, Brawnstone Dawnslight, a human whose piercing blue eyes were said to be forged from the heavens due to their depth an intensity. Brawnstone explained that he had a vision that Grace was to go to Vareen and seek out more information about these ancient artifacts. He’d done some research and many of them were surfacing in a distant desert called Drastor – and that there were many temples there – and from what he’d gathered by speaking to those whom the Church purchased these artifacts from – the temples were often filled with traps. He explained that she would be taking the Tabaxi Rogue they’d caught a few days ago, Skrizz with her. He explained that the Church offered to “erase the slate” if he agreed to help – and while at first, he seemed disinterested – the mention of treasure, relics and temples garnered the Tabaxi’s interest – and the fact that the Church would be paying for his passage to go with you.

Departing from Bistream on their way to Moontide Port, the duo encountered a lone traveler – a female Tiefling. Grace took note that the Tiefling bore a religious crest on her chest piece, as well as on her armor’s shoulder piece. Grace found it interesting because it was not the symbol of any of the known deities, but rather the Angels who served the deities as messengers. Grace felt that perhaps this was an omen – a sign of the goddess – that, as an Aasimar, she would be put in the path of a Tiefling baring angelic symbols. Grace and Skrizz approached the Tiefling who stood and drew her weapon, explaining she wanted no trouble. Grace assured her that they brought no trouble and meant no trouble. Grace explained that she noticed the angelic markings and was curious about them. The Tiefling introduced herself as Anathema Haniel, but noticed that the last name she’d given – she’d paused on – as if unsure she wanted to share it or perhaps provided a false name. (DM Note – the player was mentioning they may change their last name, so just providing some flavor in the event the last name does change). They sat together and Grace shared the mission that she and Skrizz were on and spoke how perhaps her goddess has put Anathema on her path for a reason. Anathema, searching for who she was, thought that perhaps escaping to a new continent, where she can begin anew – and perhaps truly grow as herself, thought this was a perfect opportunity to do so – especially since Grace explained that as long as Anathema agreed, she would be willing, through the Church, pay for the Tiefling’s passage to Vareen.

When the trio reached Moontide Port they found the small port city, bustling with excitement and would be adventurers, all with their hopes and dreams of finding riches in Vareen and coming back and be set for the rest of their life. Grace explains that the ship they are taking – The Griffon’s Crest – wasn’t due to reach Moontide Port for another two days. She explained she would pay for their rooms and they found – through sheer luck (or, as Grace would say, Florasena’s guidance, an Inn that had several rooms available). It was when the trio met down in the tavern for drinks – though it was mostly full of humans, dwarves and halflings – one figure stuck out above the rest – literally – a goliath slumped over, her massive frame not comfortable. Once again, Grace wondered if this had been divine intervention that the very Inn they found that had, through some miracle spare rooms – would also be the place where a lone goliath stood out to her. Grace stood and headed for the Goliath, and Skrizz who’d already seen this happen with the Tiefling simply rolled his eyes.

Grace spoke with the Goliath who introduced herself as Kasumi Makio Iolani, and that she’d left her tribe in Snowspire Mountains, because she did not approve of their warring and raiding ways. She sought peace and tranquility and set out on her own. She learned to channel the energy of the world known as “Ki Energy” – and noticed an odd shift in the world’s Ki energy two years ago. She’d been tracking it – and discovered the root of it seemed to center on the continent of Vareen – or at least the events that seemed to have ties to it, and that she was going to find a way to get to Vareen – but, had no money for passage since ship captains, well aware of the high demand to go to the new continent were charging outrageous prices. Grace smiled – and explained that it seemed the shift in Ki energy could be tied to the demise of eight deities – as they seemed to have happened at the same time, based on the times each felt it. Grace offered to pay for Kasumi’s passage if the Goliath agreed to go with Grace. Kasumi agreed – and Grace returned to their table with their new companion and introduced her.

After two days, The Griffon’s Crest made port, and the party was introduced to Captain Cass Lightmage.

Captain Cass explains that it will take about two weeks time to reach Vareen – and that they will need to stop at a few islands for a few trades as well as restocking for supplies – because, she sacrificed some of the chambers in the ship normally used for supplies, as “rooms” for desperate adventurers who were willing to be confined in small spaces just to get to Vareen sooner than later, fearful that they might miss out on the treasures being uncovered.

Thankfully, the last of the Church’s money provided to Grace would be used in booking normal rooms aboard the Griffon’s Crest to assure maximum comfort. The ship sails for two days before coming to its first stop at an island called Havar – which is primarily run by dwarves. Captain Cass explains that the ship will be docked here for several hours as she has some leathers to trade with the dwarves for some fine steel weapons and armor, which she then plans to sell to the people in Vareen. The party departs from the ship to see what this town of Dwarves has to offer. Grace wanders into Twostone’s Steel, a weapon shop run by a dwarf named Daz Twostone. Grace explains that the Church had sent her off with a light cross bow and she was hoping to find something with a little more “punch” to it. She spoke to Daz, and explained that she’d also need to use a shield – Daz explained she’d be better off with a hand crossbow – doesn’t pack that punch she wants – but it’d allow her to freely use a shield. She offered to trade her own light crossbow and paid very little for the hand crossbow. Kasumi would also head for Twostone’s Steel, but would wait for Grace to finish – as these buildings were all built for dwarves, and standing at seven feet tall, going inside such buildings proved difficult for Kasumi. She asked if Daz had a quarterstaff that she could use – and he explained that he could forge two of them together at the steel tip and make her one. She agreed – and he quickly smelted the steel to form a normal sized quarterstaff she could use and offered to sell it for 1 gold, which Kasumi paid for.

Skrizz headed for the Stonecutter Tavern, which was run by Toor Stonecutter. Inside, the tavern was clearly primarily dwarves; with the other population in the room being humans, elves, and halflings who had – like himself – come here just to stretch their legs. Inside the tavern, he ordered a cold glass of milk and Toor sighed for someone in the back to go milk the cow and that they had “one of the cat people” in the tavern. Skrizz listened around him as he drank his milk and heard some discontent among the people who had paid for the “storage” bunkers for rooms about how small their quarters were.

Outside, sitting near the town’s fountain, Anathema was people watching – she’d heard of dwarves, but had led a secluded life in the Angelic Church in which she was raised – and while she’d definitely heard of dwarves – everything she’d heard was that dwarves lived deep inside mountains, miles below, where the earth’s fiery core raged… but none of these dwarves looked to live in any mountain. Most of them seemed to live in this city. In the distance, Anathema could see a mountain – but those in the town definitely seemed to be more “city folk” rather than “the deep, down in the mountains” kind of dwarves she’d heard about. She too heard people, especially the intoxicated ones, who came out of the Stonecutter Tavern, complaining about their confined space.

Eventually the horn rang, and everyone made their way back to the Griffon’s Crest.

The ship next ported just outside of the island dubbed “Greenhaven” (though no one knows it’s true name). Row boats brought the adventurers out to the shores of “Greenhaven” because there was no true port there – and Captain Cass asked the “adventurers” on her ship to seek out food or herbs to bring back – and that it would help replenish the supplies on the ship – and that she’d pay for it.

On “Greenhaven” the foursome decided that they would help hunt down animals to replenish the food supply aboard the ship. Grace, confident that she could track some animals, for two hours tracked broken branches – but discovered, she’d only managed to track other adventurers who had hunted there and brought down a boar. However, they each caught the sound of a constant whistling – and decided to try and investigate what that might be, but found themselves going in circles – until the ground beneath them rumbled and an ankheg burst through the soil directly in front of them.

The creature quickly gets Anathema in its clutches, it’s massive mandibles able to squeeze some damage into her, while her companions struggle to penetrate the beast’s exoskeleton. Grace calls on Florasena to aid her companions (granting them temporary hit points). Kasumi is able to use her Ki energy for flurry of blows and manages to damage the ankheg. When the Ankheg strikes Anathema again she unleashes a Hellish Rebuke the creature – and where Kasumi had struck it – the shell cracks and green ooze begins to emit from the beast. Skrizz keeps cutting at the creature as well; as it struggles to fight the party. Kasumi focuses her Ki energy – and unleashes her flurry of blows – exploding the ankheg – green mist explodes in every direction (DM Note – for fun I had them roll a Dexterity Save, to avoid the acidic damage) – acid rains down on Grace and Anathema.

Grace mentions that they should harvest the meat from the massive creature. Together they’re able to manage to harvest twenty pounds of meat. With the sound of battle over, Grace picks up on the whistling sound they heard before (Natural 20!) – and they manage to find a field of Whistling Leaf. (DM Note – Whistling Leaf is a healing plant used for healing potions in my world – but they can be suckled on for 1d4 healing per Whistling Leaf).

Grace manages to harvest one whistling leaf, while Kasumi harvests two, and Skrizz harvests three of them; Anathema, wounded from the fight with the Ankheg is still too shakey to properly harvest any.

A short while later, the familiar horn of the ship rings out and row boats begin taking crew and passengers back to the Griffon’s Crest. Back on the ship, Grace creates an elaborate story of the complexity it took to get the ankheg meat – comparing the danger they’d risked compared to others who simply hunted boar – and that they’d managed to harvest 20 pounds of meat and points to Anathema, and the damage she’d taken against the ankheg as a selling point. (DM Note, since she used her damaged party member as an example of the dangers, I allowed Grace to roll with Advantage when it came to selling the meat to Captain Cass). Captain Cass offers to pay 84 gold for the meat, and Grace evenly divides it giving 21 gold to each person in the party.

The ship sets sail again – and after a few days, Captain Cass calls attention to an island off to the west. She explains that the island is known as Eagle Rock and used to be a very common stopping ground for many ships because of the unique liquor produced there known as Vikarus. However, a curse fell over the island – and any ships that get too close are magically drawn to the island and often slammed against the shores. Those who shipwreck there aren’t heard from again. She points out the massive cloud that seems to magically linger over the island, stretching for miles beyond the island as well, seemingly creating an eternal night over the island.

At that moment, cries ring out all over the ship – and turning the party sees green humanoids boarding the ship from the sides.

DM Note – Since Skrizz rolled highest on the Initiative, I decided I would let him choose the fate. I asked him to roll a d4 – and he rolled a 1. I explained only one Sahuagin was near them as it climbed over the bow of the ship. A quick perception check reveals to Anathema and Skrizz that the waters are also full of sharks!

As the foursome battles the Sahuagin near them; battles break out all over the ship with others fighting the Sahuagin. After the first round, the Sahuagin battling our heroes calls out for help (DM Note – I had Skrizz roll a final d4 to see how many come to its aid – he rolls a 3. So three Sahuagin rush towards the party – one rolling a Natural 20 on it’s Initiative – see my house rules for more). The party quickly realizes the danger as the Sahuagin blood frenzy even if they draw the smallest amount of blood from their opponents (giving them advantage on their attacks on anyone who isn’t full health!) It is a struggle as the party fights these humanoids – it seems evenly matched with the Sahuagin winding down the character’s health – until Grace uses her Channel Divinity: Twilight Sanctuary which allows temporary hit points to be – this is the turning of the tide of the battle – that allows the heroes to feel more confident. Eventually three are taken down, with the last one (Natural 20 by Grace, who has 0 damage on unarmed strike) – but she manages to kick the creature off the edge of the ship. The Sahaugin retreat with the victims they managed to pull or throw in the water and sink beneath the tide, riding the very sharks that had been circling the ship. Captain Cass is upset at the loss of people – both because it’s her reputation, but also some of her crew were victims of the vile Sahuagin.

The next few days are spent praying for those who were lost to the Sahuagin and much of the voyage is somber as they approach the last island the party will see on this trek, which is Shadow Island. The party has heard stories about Shadow Island, whose mountain in the center is so tall, that it casts a shadow, like the hand of a clock around the island, as the sun rises and sets. They also know the story of Halkron, the Storm Giant – whose home was at the top of the mountain called Orison Peak, and according to legend – Halkron gazed upon the world to watch where evil was being done and reported to the gods. An ancient red dragon named Braor, the Blood Vein, brought with her a massive army of red dragon to put an end to Halkron – and the story is – so much magic was used that it warped the island and created portals that appear and disappear – to various planes.

The ship finally reaches it’s destination at The Ivory Coast, docking at The Ivory Vale in Vareen. The party leaves and begins walking through the bustling town and has their rooms paid for by the Church at The Pegasus Wing. As they make their way there, Skrizz notices a tavern called The Lion’s Mane which is connected to an Inn called The Lion’s Pride. He’s heard that “operations” worked out of that Inn and noted he should make his way back to see if there was “new” or “business” he could pick up on.

At the Pegasus Wing, the party is approached by a female dwarf with red hair, green eyes, who has a human child with her. The Dwarf, bearing the symbol of Jarisfargen (often simply called “Jaris”) on her chest. She looks between Anathema and Grace. “You bare holy symbols,” she sighs, thankfully, “and a goddess loved by all, while you bare the mark of angels,” she says looking at Grace then Anathema. “I pray that I can trust you… and that you can help me. Well,” she corrects, “actually this young girl.” She forces the young female human who looks to be no older than five years old to come forward. “She and her family were coming back from Ridgecrest – a major city several days away – with religious works, when, during a stop to camp – they were, according to the girl,” the young girl steps back behind the dwarf, “attacked by giants. At least two of them. The girl did not see them, because she’d been in the wagon sleeping. And when the giants came, her mother shoved her out of the wagon and shouted to run. She did so and never looked back – but she heard the giants – two voices arguing with one another. Through some miracle, she found the main road and made her way back here where she was found by a passers by and brought to our Church. She gave me a detailed description of where they’d stopped – and I believe I know exactly where it is. But the girl is attached to me so I can’t leave. I am asking if you can go and… save her parents, or,” her voice becomes grim, “bring them home so we can properly bury them. I will gladly pay you 30 gold each.”

The party doesn’t take long to agree to help the young girl.

TO BE CONTINUED.