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Session 27 - Into the Fang of Worship

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  The party recovered from the Anathema fight with a short rest, interrupted by the sudden appearance and immediate disappearance of Mesmer into one of the portals. Somehow feeling like they weren't going to see him for awhile, and possible ever again, they decided not to mess with the portals and instead took to the secret passageways again and made their way into one of the hanging towers of Serastis. Navigating their way down a spiral staircase, they were ambushed by shrieking undead baboons, who managed to suck a bit of life from Vodja and Wanda before being dispatched. They broke into a room of worship and killed a Yuan-ti necromancer and then found a sacrificial chamber with some statues and a rescuable victim, who seemed convinced they were in crypts beneath Elturgard. Deacon Fry restored one of the statues to life and she admitted that she had indeed encountered a medusa in the halls while trying to escape from the prison. Finally they reached the bottom of the tower to fin...
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Session 26 - Against a Shadowed Ziggurat

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The party wisely chose to retire for a long rest before exploring the castle further, despite the possibility of marshaled fortification. They re-entered Serastis and managed to defeat an ambush laid for them before slipping into the secret tunnels they'd found. Ascending up into the reaches, they emerged on a balcony over a sinister ziggurat from which protruded a black monolith of strange origin. Investigating further they found some magical gates, and Vodja noticed some magic items placed in front of the monolith that seemed decidedly lootable. Unfortunately the shadows swirling the ziggurat finally coalesced into a hideous snake-clustered giant and attacked him, and the party was forced to take on what seemed like a deadly challenge, made worse by Wanda being polymorphed into a mouse. Though things seemed somewhat touch and go, Wanda's spell was broken and she finished the monstrosity off, winning the day.
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Session 25 - Into Castle Serastis

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The party had successfully defeated a vicious Guardian Naga in the Ashen Hills below the castle, and now prepared to infiltrate the keep properly. Mesmer, confronting no problem that could not be solved by clever application of illusionry, proposed to bring the party in as slaves being escorted by the recently defeated guardian. The yuan-ti at the entrance chamber were indeed easily duped, seemingly a bit of a decadent and drug-addled group. They waved the party towards the torture chambers and upon discovering that the torture chambers were in fact filled with torturing, they decided to start murdering yuan-ti, pushing past poisons and mind-affecting magic to clear out several rooms on this floor. A secret passage discovered in a dining chamber remained unexplored, and instead the party's interest was piqued by the discovery of a lizardman druid - some sort of elevated slave / preferred pet who seemed to have been brainwashed to "conquer" rival lizardman tribes through s...
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Sessions 23 & 24 - Into the Serpent Hills

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  Having uncovered a plot to spawn Kyuss Worms in an egg chamber in the bowels of the Godsdeath Brewery at Boareskyr, the party consider what to do next. After a troubling nightmare Mesmer has of some sort of dream snake going after the Librum Mortis, they have enough hints now that these foul workings are coming from the northern Serpent Hills. Against some warnings, they resolve to investigate, at least checking in at Blackwall Keep to ask what those knights had seen. The Monks supply them with rations and ale and the Abbess provides a Letter of Introduction to Sir Celbion, and the party begins traveling into the foothills that the Winding Water spills from. The land begins to turn desolate and quiet and by the time they turn up towards the Serpent's Tail stream they see the vast stretches of the High Moor lay desolately to the northwest. They fight off some Kyuss spawn wearing the livery of Blackwall, and worry for the keep. The worries are legitimized as they find it in ruins,...
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Session 22 - The False Cure of Hydra-xychloriquine

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  Forgot to write this session up right after but basically the party found a hydra guarding a clutch of eggs in the Fermenting Caverns of Boareskyr and killed it. Also the Abbess pushed Dravej into an ethereal jaunt, so he got to watch the fight a little bit outside of space and time.
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Session 21 - Among the Monks

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  The party reaches Boareskyr Bridge and the cluster of cliff buildings the monks live in around it. They see the Godsdeath spring bubbling up from the waters below and meet Satchel , an attractive tiefling monk standing vigil. She notes that it has been 130 years since Cyric slew Bhaal at this spot, and that the monks have been here far longer than that. She welcomes the companions and offers them food and lodging if they wish it. The party decides to make use of the hot spring baths here and meet a few more of the monks. They find them quirky, boastful and diverse in origin. Dravej is gently ribbed a little for leaving the enclave, and some strong mushroom brew is shared, hitting Amanon particularly hard. Finally it is time for shared dinner, though Wanda is tired and chooses to retire early. At the Hall of Sustenance they meet the last of Dravej's trainers, a half-orc hunter and chef who prepares a tasty dinner of salad and boar. Mesmer, ever eager to acquire knowledge, attempts...
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Session 20 - Journey to Boareskyr

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After several weeks of recovery in their observatory at Diamond Lake, the party packs and prepares for their journey north through the hills to the Trade Way, about a week's travel. The journey is straightforward, and the companions reminisce and get to know each other a little better as they camp in the wilderness. Mesmer gains some insight into the nature of the Librum Mortis, apparently known in some circles as the Necrotome of Trask, and finds that an old antagonist has passed. Halfway through the journey, they encounter a troupe of ogres carrying a captured gnome whom they decide to rescue. The ogres are dispatched without too much trouble, but the prisoner, Hisni Ertix Yegim-Wrefan from Trielta, is a particularly morose fellow and not terribly fun to travel with. On the last day before reaching the main roadway, they spot a distant black dragon, probably hunting from the Forest of Wyrms to the North. The party reach the trade way and elect to travel southwest to Soubar for ...
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