Campaign Journal #24: The Two Portals

Our heroes rifle through the clothing and bags of the cultists and their guards. They also examine the cultists' journal and discover they were tracking the position of the star Githis in the sky. Barclay recalls that Githis is supposedly one of the 7 Slumbering Suns, enchanted suns like Morn.

The party breaks into the area underneath the tower and discovers four goblins kept captive. They are Davana and three others previously encountered at (what is now) Kodrak's Backtooth Mountain. The goblins explain that a cultist entered the portal (further down a passageway) along with regular shipments of water and crates.

They examine the portal, testing it with a stick before Kodrak peers inside. He sees a dark corridor with weird, organic features. The portal is set to track Githis—can the portal indeed lead there? Barclay disables the portal, and both Barcley and Sentie note the positions of the portal stones before putting them in their bags.

The party and the goblins rest at the watchtower. Davana, who is known for cooking, prepares a meal: "roc" wings, troglodyte jerky, curried venison, goblin lemonade, and goblin root beer.

Our heroes leave the watchtower with the goblins in tow, and again set off through the grassy plains. They make good time and reach their mountain destination in the morning of the fourth day. However, they find themselves in the middle of a situation. The portal station is inhabited by three factions, humans and half-elves, gnomes and myconids, and Stonelings (orcs and goblins). Apparently they all reached the station roughly a month ago, attempted to activate the portal, and an explosion killed dozens of them. There are also too few crystals to activate the portal. The factions fear sabotage and there is little trust between them.

They attempt several solutions, and eventually work with the Stoneling warchief Gorbul to investigate the explosion. Their work leads them to a grave atop the mountain, where they locate a coin-operated mechanism that had been removed from the portal room. The party gets the portal operating again and takes it to a portal near the River Tinsley in south-west Loril.

Our heroes meet their contact, Jarold, the ogre brother of Harold. In his barge, they will travel down the river to meet the wizard Rixiilliandrias of Pallistae Starling-on-Tinsley.

Soundtrack:

Gabriel Akhmad Marin, Ruminate: Improvisations for Fretless Guitar and Dutar (2021)

The Main Cast, our player characters:

• Barclay Stone (he/him), human bard (college of eloquence)
• Aevyr, his imp familiar
• Kodrak Kukkerlun (he/him), dwarven fighter (battle master)
• Raehendra Tiddlybumpkin (she/her), gnomish ranger (hunter)
• Renn Summerstar (he/him), elven cleric of Lioris (twilight domain)
• Sentie Rancis (they/them), human wizard (school of transmutation)

The Supporting Cast, non-player characters:

• Davana, goblin, and three other goblins
• Gorbul, Stoneling, warchief
• Jarold, ogre
• Some half-elves, humans, gnomes, myconid, and Stonelings

See the full cast list at Campaigns in Elsemorn—now with photos of the miniatures used in the game!

Campaign Journal #23: The Ancient Watchtower

Our heroes set out across the grasslands, searching for a disused watchtower that may still have a teleportation circle in or around it. They are concerned about the dire centipedes that Gathe warned them about, and that had attacked the Lizardfolk. The grasslands are quite hilly, and the party sticks to upland and rocky terrain—avoiding the groves and swampy lowlands that might harbor centipedes.

On the third day of travel, they do spot some centipedes, great monstrosities covered in blue feather-like legs, but they keep their distance. The party also runs into some sprites, and give them some narcotic leaves, fine cloth, thread, and honey; in return, the sprites give them mostly useless information about the centipedes.

But in time our heroes do reach the watchtower, located in a swampy lowland area. And even worse, it's occupied by the purple-robed cultists. The cultists are using spellsense to observe...something, while a handful of archers and guards are moving water and other goods into a gated entrance below the watchtower.

Barclay has Aevyr fly around the area, and the imp steals the cultists' observation journal, though this puts the enemy on alert. Our heroes advance (while casting spells and firing arrows) in the cover of a massive illusion, an eye-covered plant/frog...thing. The archers/guards and a cultist return fire—and then some dire centipedes attack, one adult and two hatchlings.

It's chaos for a while, with all three sides attacking each other. Our heroes get some good hits in: Kodrak charging with his meteor axe, Raehendra sending double arrows, Sentie firebolting, and Renn running around with spirit guardians. Then Barclay casts shatter on the watchtower, sending it tumbling down onto the remaining cultists inside.

It was late and we ended immediately after the battle ended. Next week, our heroes will discover what's underneath the ancient watchtower!

Soundtrack:

Jack Wall, Myst III: Exile (2001) and Myst IV: Revelation (2005)

The Main Cast, our player characters:

• Barclay Stone (he/him), human bard (college of eloquence)
• Aevyr, his imp familiar
• Kodrak Kukkerlun (he/him), dwarven fighter (battle master)
• Raehendra Tiddlybumpkin (she/her), gnomish ranger (hunter)
• Renn Summerstar (he/him), elven cleric of Lioris (twilight domain)
• Sentie Rancis (they/them), human wizard (school of transmutation)

The Supporting Cast, non-player characters:

• Some archers/guards
• Some cultists
• Some sprites

See the full cast list at Campaigns in Elsemorn—now with photos of the miniatures used in the game!